By Greg Higgins

North Battleford a national leader in First Nation relations

Jun 9, 2017 | 12:00 PM

North Battleford might be considered a small city, but it other provinces are keeping a close watch and studying how it handles First Nation relations.

Mayor Ryan Bater attended the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference in Ottawa last week. The conference is a gathering of municipal leaders to talk and debate policies with federal leaders.

Bater said it is also a great chance to network with other municipality leaders and take workshops on how to improve their own. When it came to a workshop on reconciliation through economic development specific to partnerships between First Nations and municipalities, Bater thought it was a great chance for North Battleford to shine.

“The work that we are doing through the Community Economic Development Initiative with the Battlefords Agency tribal Chiefs was really relevant to that workshop,” Bater said. “I actually took the opportunity to take to the microphone and talk about the work we are doing and the success we’ve seen here with our urban reserve development.”

Bater said he was able to meet with other municipalities from across the country going through similar processes with their neighbouring First Nations. He added North Battleford is showing a lot of leadership on a national level.

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“I was surprised to learn after meeting with the mayor of Edmonton that Alberta doesn’t have urban reserves,” Bater said. “He indicated to me they could learn something from North Battleford because we have the first urban reserve in Saskatchewan. We also have the largest one in the province.”

The mayor added it was also a great opportunity to learn from other municipalities. Bater said he met with representatives in Manitoba and parts of Alberta to learn how they are they are partnering with First Nations.
 

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.