Challenging year to be met with resiliency, says New North board
- Linda Mikolayenko | January 18, 2017
Northern Saskatchewan will face change and uncertainty in 2017, but it will persevere, believes Matt Heley, Chief Executive Officer of the Saskatchewan Association of Northern Communities, more commonly known as New North.
There was a significant change in northern mayors and councils following the municipal elections in October, 2016, and many First Nations, including the largest in Saskatchewan, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, will hold their elections in 2017.
In a major initiative, New North, with the engagement of First Nations, and in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan’s International Centre for Northern Governance and Development (ICNGD), is pursuing a Northern Strategy.
“The whole purpose of this relationship is to start working collaboratively amongst all the northern stakeholders to find some sort of high-level consensus about priorities and ways to address issues going forward,” says Heley. “At the community level, you will often see these relationships develop. You will have agreements between First Nations and municipalities on landfill, on fire, on emergency management, but at the higher level, we don’t quite have similar relationships.”
Heley expects to see a Northern Leaders Summit in 2017, but consultations at the grassroots level are key and the critical tasks will be undertaken by various working groups.
“If we come up with a plan, with strategies, ways we want to see things happening, we can go with that to government,” says Heley.
As the new year begins, there is still uncertainty regarding the status of the Northern Teacher Education Program – Northern Professional Access Program (NORTEP-NORPAC). While New North has called for the provincial government to leave the current funding arrangement as it is, the Minister of Advanced Education is expected to make a decision soon on the re-direction of funding to another post-secondary institution.
Although Heley believes that it is “inevitable” that governments will address the long-standing need for a road to Wollaston Lake, there are no guarantees that this will happen in 2017.
There is more uncertainty with the recent announcement by the provincial government to move towards one provincial health authority. While the Athabasca Health Authority will not be included in this consolidation, as it has a unique funding and accountability relationship between the federal government, the province and First Nations organizations, it is not yet clear how it will be affected by a potential change in the current Population Health Unit collaborative initiative with the Keewatin-Yatthé (KY) and Mamawetan Churchill River (MCR) Regional Health Authorities. The report of the Advisory Panel on Health System Structure recommends that KY and MCR merge into one service integration area, with a potentially expanded boundary to include communities such as Cumberland House. “A unique northern service area will provide this population with a stronger voice…and ensure services meet the population’s health care needs and recognize the unique geography of northern Saskatchewan,” the report states.
One of the demonstrated health care needs for the north is an expanded long term care facility. The current facility in La Ronge has 14 permanent resident beds. MCR has recently completed an extensive planning and design process for an 80-bed facility, but this design will remain on hold until funding is allocated for construction in a future budget, says MCR Acting CEO Teresa Watt.
Change in the uranium mining sector will directly affect workers in northern communities. The mine at Rabbit Lake was closed indefinitely in 2016, and Cameco has announced temporary shutdowns of its operations at McArthur River, Cigar Lake and Key Lake for several weeks during the summer of 2017.
Northerners take this kind of news in their stride, says Heley.
“Northern communities are resilient. We often talk about how, with the economic downturn that is affecting the whole province, (the south) could learn a bit from how the north survives,” he says, noting that it has survived through much, much higher unemployment, demands on municipal services, and social dislocation. “They cope, and the reason they thrive, is because of that capacity to come together.”