While the discussion on Reconciliation that was part of Monday's Election Forum didn't dig too deep into how the incumbents or challengers for office would address the topic, there was some news shared from the five current council members that points to an important day coming up on Monday.
At the forum of Monday night at the Lester Centre, all of the incumbent candidates running for office that are currently sitting on Council spoke to a major policy announcement to come at the next Council session.
One after another, they each made mention of what will be the delivery of a Framework on Reconciliation for the City of Prince Rupert, the mentions taking up the bulk of their thirty second allotment of time to the topic of reconciliation on Monday.
The comments of the collective more of a teaser campaign of sorts to the initiative, with the details to the new Framework something that will be revealed on October 3rd.
"This Monday an Indigenous Reconciliation Framework will come before Council, among other things it's going to touch on employment equity, land acknowledgment, signage and naming, We've already signed MOU's with Metlakatla, Lax Kw'alaams and Kitkatla which work toward regional benefit agreements" -- Councillor Nick Adey
"We've got the Framework MOU coming out on Monday so anyone who wants to listen to that will get a good insight into what the Council and surrounding villages have done. We've signed MOU's for different projects with them and we've given them opportunities for building and things like that, working with them on projects and things like that" -- Councillor Barry Cunningham
"We have signed MOU's with Lax Kw'alaams, Metlaktala and Kitkatla. We have continued to strengthen the relationships with these nations, we have worked together on housing projects you know with land deals. We have worked with the Bands on projects on Watson Island to provide job opportunities, we have also been working with Kitkatla on the waterfront project. Reconciliation will be an ongoing discussion at our table including the upcoming framework" -- Councillor Wade Niesh
"On the Agenda next meeting, the Reconciliation framework will acknowledge equity, land acknowledgement, signage and naming and social policies" -- Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa
"As an Indigenous representative on City Council right now ... we have talked a little about Reconciliation Framework motion, and I can peer my head over actually at one of our lovely city planners who has actually collaborated with us on the reconciliation framework motion that we're putting forward on October 3rd" -- Councillor Reid Skelton-Morven
The challengers and incumbents for both the Mayoralty and Council positions all spoke to the topic of Reconciliation at the forum, all of those assembled in the Lester Centre providing for variations on many of the same themes on the need for more engagement to build relationships, along with a dedication towards more meaningful action and partnerships.
Those commentaries can be reviewed from the video from Monday's Election Forum staring at the 43 minute mark of the night's discussion.
City Council's initiative will come a few days following the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation of this Friday and makes for what is likely the last policy measure from the current City council as the final few days of their four year mandate wind down towards the October 15th Election Day.
On the topic of reconciliation, there has not been much public discussion towards the issue from the council membership over those four years in the Council Chamber; or towards the scope of the more recent work that was put into their framework that will be revealed next week.
So Monday's announcement and presentation will make for a document release that should generate some significant interest in the community and beyond.
The passages relayed by the council members from the election forum of Monday evening have set the table for that presentation and from their commentary could leave residents with a few questions for further discussion or explanation in the days following its reveal.
More note notes on the work of City council over their mandate can be reviewed through our Council Discussion Archive pages here.
If someone runs for public office and refers to women as "lovely" and "rockstars", I will not be voting for them.
ReplyDeleteThis is typical of the administration under the current mayor. There is about to be new mayor and some change on council. Much of the stuff the mayor is doing now should be left for the new mayor and council to embrace or reject.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor doesn't seem to have a proper sense of transition of power from one administration to another. I would be fine if this was done six months ago. It just seems wrong.
It's a positive initiative but the timing and manner of the release by the councillors is pretty tacky.
ReplyDelete