Mayor David Gillan at the last State of the City Address in March 2023. (Angela Brown/battlefordsNOW Staff)

By Angela Brown

Look ahead

N.B. mayor looks at plans ahead for 2024

Jan 8, 2024 | 2:55 PM

North Battleford Mayor David Gillan is looking forward to a busy year for the city for 2024.

Economic development will be one of the top priorities for the city for the year. The city hired Jan Swanson as its economic development manager in 2022 to bring more business to the area, so it plans to continue with that focus.

“We’ve done a lot of organization internally and talking to the business community, trying to prepare some strategy around economic development,” Gillan said. “We’re starting to do more going out, to try to recruit more business to the community.”

Gillan and Swanson will attend a shopping centre retailers’ trade show for western Canada later this month in Whistler, B.C.

“It brings together shopping centre developers, retailers, and restaurant brands – all these types of businesses coming together for three or four days to exchange ideas,” he said. “It’s very popular amongst a lot of communities and cities in western Canada who attend this show, looking for leads to try to encourage them to invest in your community more.”

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North Battleford is especially looking for more business to invest in the southeast quadrant near Walmart, where it has more land available.

Gillan added the city will also review its policies and bylaws in 2024 to try to find ways to make it easier to invest in the city.

“That’s a big part of economic development as well, making sure that policies and bylaws are in fact business-friendly, and friendly to the investor,” he said.

The mayor noted that North West College’s plans to create a new campus in the Battlefords, as well as the RCMP’s plans to redevelop the former Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority liquor store off 101 Street for an RCMP site for training will also help bring new economic growth to the city.

In addition to the south-east quadrant plans, the city is also working on acquiring more investment for the north end of the community, north of Sobeys.

“I’m very optimistic about economic development in 2024,” Gillan said.

Reputation

The mayor also addressed the latest Crime Severity Index (CSI). The CSI’s most recent report ranks North Battleford first out of 330 communities, with an overall CSI value of 557.1 compared to the national average of 78.1. Prince Albert ranked fourth on the list with an overall CSI of 302.2 and Saskatoon was 38 on the list with a value of 128.9.

Gillan questioned why the City of North Battleford would be on the same ranking list as the City of Toronto, the biggest city in the country, adding it “makes very little sense.”

He noted the CSI is detrimental to North Battleford’s reputation.

“It could lead people to have the wrong judgment about a place,” Gillan said.

As a result, the city plans to meet with representatives from Stats Canada in Saskatoon next month, along with the other communities in Canada that are annually in the top 10 to 15 on the list to learn more about the rankings.

“We need to find a solution for this,” Gillan said. “We cannot get off the list because the way the list is cut off at 10,000 [populations], small communities are always at the top. Toronto is not at the top. We are always at the top – communities of less than 40,000 people. That tells you there’s a problem with this. It doesn’t matter how good our police is; we’ll always stay there because the numbers will only go up. There’s fundamentally something wrong with ranking these small communities in the same list as the City of Toronto… Hopefully we can find a common solution.”

Mental health

The mayor also looked at the issue of mental health, addictions, and homelessness – a problem not just here, but across the country. The city is currently working on developing a Community Wellness Plan that is being funded by the province. It has a consultant currently working with local community groups to develop a strategy around the issue about how to help people with complex needs on the streets, to find a solution.

“We look forward to the conclusion of that report, and the recommendations in it about what do we need inside our community, specifically North Battleford, to try to alleviate some of this [issue],” Gillan said.

In 2024, the city will also begin a three-year partnership with the federal government to look at ways to assist youth to avoid or exit gang life. The city will receive $750,000 through Public Safety Canada over the three-year period for this project that starts this year.

“Gang life is getting worse in all communities, not just North Battleford,” Gillan said. “There’s a lot of youth who for whatever reason are drawn to this lifestyle because maybe they had a difficult childhood at home, they don’t have support at home, or whatever the case may be.”

The city plans to work with Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs Inc. (BATC) and Battlefords Tribal Council (BTC), along with other local non-governmental agencies, and faith-based organizations to try to help find a solution.

“On the complex issues of addictions and homelessness and mental health, we’re trying our best on all fronts to make a difference in the community,” Gillan said.

The city is also working with other city mayors in Saskatchewan to talk about mental health and addiction, to suggest changes to the province to try to help the situation.

“These are big over-arching issues in our community,” Gillan said. “Part of what I’m supposed to be doing as mayor is trying to make these transformative changes. Hopefully in 2024, we’re going to make a lot of progress on those.”

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @battlefordsnow