Historic partnership with Woodland Cree Nations to help fund P.A.Convention and Cultural Centre

“46 per cent of our population is First Nation or Metis, so they’re a big part of our community and all these bands have a large presence of their residents that live in our community. So, that’s why they’re excited about it, because it’s also going to serve them that are living here, and that’s what we’ve been saying about our model, that we have to find partners to move this item forward. So it’s a great partnership to have all the Woodland Cree. It just shows you that the Woodland Cree is the largest population that we have and to have them on board and to participate in a project like this, it just makes our community proud,” said Dionne.

Prince Albert City Manager Sherry Person, Montreal Lake Cree Nation Councillor Jeff Badger, Mayor Greg Dionne, Special Projects lead for the Montreal Lakes Cree Nation Sheila Musqua Keewatin, and Lac La Ronge Indian Band Councillor Dean Roberts pose for a photo together after Monday’s announcement. (Nick Nielsen/paNOW Staff)

The MOU is a sign of good faith that these organizations will work together for a common goal and the city also said it stands as an act reconciliation. The document proposes that each First Nation would own 15 per cent of the facility upon its completion, while the City of Prince Albert would own the remaining 55 per cent. The city would still be the ones responsible for the operating costs of the building in full.

The Centre is proposed to be built on a serviced property adjacent to the new Aquatic & Arenas Recreation Centre. It will feature a 4,500-seat capacity and versatile spaces for various cultural, entertainment, and business events. In a press release the city said, “The Convention & Cultural Event Centre is envisioned as a hub for community engagement, with facilities that can host a wide array of events, including graduation ceremonies, Pow Wows, trade shows, concerts, expos, weddings, conferences, gala dinners, and private functions. Additionally, the Centre will become the new home of the Prince Albert Raiders community-owned hockey club, the Prince Albert Northern Bears, and Prince Albert Mintos and potentially the Senator’s Cup.”

A large part of the agreement is aimed at creating a Cultural Centre that displays the imagery and history of First Nations people in the area. The agreement also promises to create jobs for First Nations people by training them to help run the facility. Mayor Dionne expressed how important it is for the City to have that First Nations representation in its workforce.

“I really do believe that a city should represent its workforce, should represent the community, and we’ve done all kinds of mentoring programs to get them into firefighting. We have a mentor program to get them into policing and so this is just another step of that. They’re the largest group of untrained, skilled workers, so let’s train them and put them to work and make them proud.”

In attendance was Jeff Badger to represent the Montreal Lake Cree Nation’s Council. With the possibility of hosting events such as large scale powwows and even the Senators Cup hockey tournament, as well as the potential job opportunities in the city, he believes that this partnership will benefit all First Nations people living in the northern half of the province.

“Job creation is huge. I mean, we have a lot of membership that they reside in the city and are looking forward all the time. So, it’ll be a good opportunity for them.” He added, “A lot of our First Nations, they meet in the South, a lot of the times. It would be good to bring some of that economic development to the North and have the southern people come to the North and visit. That’s what I see for the future.”

Dean Roberts, a member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band was also present for the historic announcement. With all the events that the Woodland Cree Nations could potentially host in Prince Albert, instead of travelling to centres much further away, Roberts believes that this new facility and the partnership sets an example that the rest of the country could follow.

“It’s a good thing we’re moving forward with the City of Prince Albert. I’m honored to represent my nation, but also honored to work together with the City of Prince Albert. It’s a big step forward for us in in terms of reconciliation. I swear I like to say we’re the gateway to the North in La Ronge, but Prince Albert is too, so we’re working together, we’re getting unified, and that to me will come full circle, right? It’s very powerful when a city like this magnitude of Prince Albert reaches out to our band. To me, that is reconciliation.”

The partnership didn’t just happen overnight. Mayor Dionne said that while looking at how to fund the new centre, the question of who uses the facilities the most was asked. With the two largest concession days at the Art Hauser Centre coming from First Nations events in the annual powwow and the Senator’s Cup, Dionne said that it was a no brainer to approach them and try to secure funding together.

“We met with them individually, I made presentations. I went all the way to Grandmother’s Bay, which I loved. I hadn’t been in that part of the country north of La Ronge, and met with them. They treated me very well, we had a fish fry and a discussion and they all got on board. When you go to Ottawa and you talk about a reconciliation department doing something, well this is real.”

While the project of getting the new arena and in turn the Convention and Cultural Event Centre in Prince Albert has been a long one, Mayor Dionne has high hopes with the MOU in place. He compared it to another long term funding goal that has come to fruition.

“We’ve really learned a lot in the last couple of years and that’s why I say to everyone, these projects don’t open overnight. My biggest project that I worked on and that I’m proud of the most, my pet project, is the hospital. That was 12 years negotiation before it went in the ground. We’ve been working on the rinks for 10. So we’re getting excited because we’re close.”

The next steps will see the City of Prince Albert and the Woodland Cree First Nations heading to Ottawa to see what funding is available to them now that the partnership has been announced. The City has been working with registered Liberal lobbyist Douglas B. Richardson to find potential grants from the federal government that were unavailable to the City on their own.

“If you’re going to go to Ottawa, you hire a lobbyist who’s in the government, and he has made us all the appointments we needed with the ministers, he has the handle, he can phone them up. I already have another meeting with a minister next week. You have to have a lobbyist when you go to Ottawa because there are so many other big cities waiting.”

Dionne mentioned that the City of Saskatoon went to the federal government looking for funding for their $1.2 billion dollar arena in hopes that they could secure $400 million of that money from the government, while Prince Albert is hoping for only 10% of that $400 million price tag from the federal government.

—

nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Historic partnership with Woodland Cree Nations to help fund P.A.Convention and Cultural Centre

What's Trending