The current arena in North Battleford is the Access Communication Centre. (File photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

NEW FUNDING

North Battleford gets $75K provincial grant to plan new arena and events centre

Aug 13, 2025 | 11:57 AM

The future of North Battleford’s aging Access Communications Centre is starting to take shape.

The city is receiving a little over $75,000 from the province to help plan a governance model for a proposed regional arena and events centre, a framework that could also guide other major infrastructure projects.

The funding, announced Aug. 6, comes through the province’s Targeted Sector Support Initiative, a program that helps municipalities work together on shared priorities.

North Battleford was one of 19 communities to receive funding this round. The grant covers 75 per cent of project costs, with the city covering the rest.

Mayor Kelli Hawtin said that in April, council, with the support of the Town of Battleford, the Rural Municipality of North Battleford 437 and the Battlefords Regional Community Coalition (BRCC), applied for the funding.

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She pointed out the arena plan will be the pilot project, but the framework could later be used for other builds, such as replacing the Battleford District Care Centre.

“It’s all about getting us to a point that we have a model we can use first for the arena,” Hawtin said. “But in subsequent time and years, for other large-scale capital projects.”

Work with regional partners is expected to begin this fall, building on talks already underway with municipalities, First Nations and tribal councils.

Hawtin called the funding “a really exciting project” that’s as much about collaboration as construction.

“I think all of our community members should be paying attention as regional leadership is starting to look at things differently,” she said.

“Try to leverage our assets, try to leverage all of our communities working together to try and complete some bigger projects for our communities.”

A fundraising feasibility study for the new arena is already underway. Hawtin said partners in the talks include the Battlefords Tribal Council, Battlefords Agency Tribal Chiefs, Red Pheasant Cree Nation, Sweetgrass First Nation, the Town of Battleford, BRCC and the RMs of North Battleford 437 and Battle River 438.

“Either way, we do need to make a decision in the next year or so, or probably less, about the direction we go with the arena,” she said.

“Because our Access Communications Centre is requiring extensive work and the city is going to be needing to spend capital dollars one way or another. It’s just a matter of ‘if we utilize them regionally to build a new facility.”

In April, those same regional partners signed a memorandum of understanding to explore an $80.2-million twin-pad arena and events centre. The agreement sets out how the municipalities and First Nations would work together on the project.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com