Left:  Brad Swiftwolfe (BRCC), and, right: Tom Howard (BRCC), and Mayor Ames Leslie, right, at council's meeting this week. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Anti-racism workshops

Battlefords Regional Community Coalition gives update on work

Oct 19, 2022 | 2:17 PM

Battlefords Regional Community Coalition (BRCC) has been keeping busy this fall planning ahead.

The coalition was formed in 2020 as a result of a partnership developed from the Sacichawasihc relationship agreement that commits the City of North Battleford, the Town of Battleford, and five regional First Nations to work collaboratively to ensure the socio-economic sustainability and vibrancy of the region, and to develop and implement projects of mutual benefit.

The coalition now has a new executive director, Brad Swiftwolfe of Moosomin First Nation. Swiftwolfe and BRCC coordinator Tom Howard made a presentation during Town of Battleford’s council meeting this week.

Swiftwolfe took the opportunity to acknowledge senior strategist Bonnie Evans, who retired from the group this past summer. She developed the relationship agreement between the city, the town, and the member First Nations in 2019.

“I’m hoping we can continue building on that relationship,” Swiftwolfe said.

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Howard gave an update on BRCC’s work accessing funding. Over the summer, the BRCC received charitable donations from two sources: W. Brett Wilson’s foundation the Prairie Merchant, and Cenovus Energy.

“Those are project dollars to support the development of further anti-racism workshops in the region,” he said. “That is something that Brad and I are planning currently.”

Looking at the issue of funding in general, Howard said, with the exception of funds received from the Town of Battleford and the City of North Battleford, the BRCC has not had a lot of core funding.

“One of the things we have been focusing on is continuing to scan for opportunities to draw core funding from senior levels of government looking for new funding opportunities,” he said.

Howard said there are two new streams of funding that have been made available through Indigenous Services Canada’s Urban Programming for Indigenous Peoples funding stream that the BRCC is in the process of applying for.

“We are hoping that will be a source of core funding for the next few years which would be helpful for our organization to continue to grow, build ourselves out and develop the capacity to take on some bigger project work,” he said.

Looking at BRCC projects, Howard said there are two updates to report. The first is a Regional Emergency Response Plan project, the BRCC has been working on.

This is a project that was funded earlier this year through the Saskatchewan Targeted Sector Support Initiative. It was a partnership between the BRCC, the Town of Battleford, the City of North Battleford, and the RM of North Battleford.

Over the summer, the BRCC hired a consultant to develop a Regional Emergency Response Plan for all the partners in that project- the city, town, RM, and the five-member First Nations of the BRCC: Little Pine, Lucky Man, Moosomin, Sweetgrass, and Saulteaux. It’s expected the plan should be available in the early spring of next year.

Sharing A Vision

Another major update is for a project called Sharing A Vision, funded through Indigenous Services Canada at the start of this year. Sharing a Vision is a community consultation project focused on health, education, and recreation services in the Battlefords region.

A consultant was appointed this past summer for the initiative.

The BRCC is currently working on the communication and engagement strategy for the Sharing a Vision project, which will include a variety of open houses for all of the BRCC communities, as well as some web-based engagement strategies and surveys.

“It’s really to get a users’ perspective on the current state of health, education and recreation services in the Battlefords region…,” Howard said.

The aim is to develop a stronger network for those services in the region.

With the funding the BRCC previously received for the anti-racism workshops, the organization is continuing to plan these workshops for the rest of this year and into the start of 2023.

The BRCC is also busy focusing on work further developing its own organization, which includes strategic planning, budgeting, and all the other details involved in trying to grow a small non-profit.

The BRCC also continues to work on trying to find stable sources of more funding.

As well, Howard said the group is also continuing to provide monthly health calls with all of its member governments, as well as representatives from the Saskatchewan Health Authority, Indigenous Services Canada, and the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.

The BRCC also continues with its work to provide advocacy and to develop special projects as directed by its board.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that Brad Swiftwolfe is no longer the chief of the Moosomin First Nation, as this story originally stated. Cheryl Kahpeaysewat is the current chief of Moosomin First Nation.

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angela.brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsNOW