Council reconvenes after summer break

“I feel like we are the only municipality where I’ve reached out to and looked at and we’re the only one that doesn’t,” Sharps says. “I’m not saying that we have to follow the leader, because that’s not really what I do, but I really strongly feel just very attached to this land acknowledgement.”

Coun. Ramona Robins, chair of the Public Services Committee, says a land acknowledgement is one of the recommendations brought forward by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“The acknowledgement should mean something to the person saying it,” Robins says. “We want to make sure that it’s connected to our community, and the difficulty we’re having to a certain extent is who assesses that for our Indigenous community.” Robins adds most of the Indigenous leaders who reside in Medicine Hat are not originally from the land itself.

“I think we have to avoid…trying to politicize an issue that I think we all agree to anon,” Coun. Robert Dumanowski added. “We have a number of recommendations we’re asking staff to look, evaluate and bring back in some for of action. If we waited for a thorough response from the standpoint of timelines, cost associations, et cetera, we may not move any of these forward. A land acknowledgement is an easy one. It’s an easy win for all of us.”

When adopting the Energy and Infrastructure report, a question regarding last month’s summer storm was made. Coun. Dumanowski asked council why a local state of emergency was never enacted. Dumanowski adds residents were concerned by the lack of warning from the province.

“When it comes to weather events, that’s a provincial jurisdiction item,” Dumanowski says. “I noticed already there have been many messages coming out now about weather events across the province, well in advance since that event and so, all of this to bring it back and say what occurred, and what are we learning from it; things like why or why we didn’t declare.”

Glenn Feltham, interim city manager, made it a priority to bring a post-event findings report to council.

“When you’re working through these events, it really is a time for everyone to show what they’re capable of, and I was extraordinarily pleased with how absolutely everyone stepped forward,” Feltham says. “I do believe that full debriefing is absolutely necessary. That is a core part of how we do continuous improvement, how we continue to learn. We would be very, very happy to bring a summary back to council, and to discuss further what our learnings were from this event.”

The meeting concluded with the addition of two new items to the agenda: Coun. Dumanowski announced the ratification of a new collective agreement between the city and the fire fighters association, and Coun. Cassi Hider announced an appeal committee with respect to the vicious dog designations under the responsible animal ownership bylaw, consisting of Coun. Sharps, Coun. Alison Knodel and Managing Director Brian Mastel.

by Gates Guarin

Council reconvenes after summer break

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