Fort McMurray Minute: Arts Initiative, Flood Mitigation, and Unanimous Consent Required

Fort McMurray Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Fort McMurray politics

This Week In Fort McMurray:

• There are no meetings at City Hall this week, as Council is on vacation. It looks like meetings resume in September, but we’ll keep you posted if any pop up before then.
  
  
• Following a proposal by Councillor Ken Ball, Council will now require unanimous support to bypass the two-week notice period for public engagement for motions brought forward by the Mayor and Councillors. The catalyst for the unanimously passed proposal was the surprise controversial motion on June 11th that promoted Councillors to full-time and skipped the public feedback phase. That decision was later reversed due to public backlash.
  
  
• Arts Council Wood Buffalo is embarking on a $3-million fundraising campaign to establish Arts Inc., an arts incubator the group thinks will help to revive downtown Fort McMurray. Planned for the former Landmark Cinemas on Manning Avenue, this initiative aims to provide dedicated, accessible spaces for local artists, and will feature a culinary arts space with a teaching kitchen, a visual arts studio accommodating painting, drawing, sculpting, and writing activities, a dedicated area for film, photography, and multimedia production, soundproof rooms for bands and individual practice sessions, and more. Originally slated for completion in fall 2024 at a cost of $15 million, the project's timeline has been pushed to mid-2026 with a new budget of $16 million. The project is supported by a $5-million contribution from the Municipality.

Last Week In Fort McMurray:

• Plans to raise Clearwater Drive as a flood mitigation strategy have been abandoned after a Council vote rejected the $94-million proposal. Instead, Administration will present new options in September to address flood-proofing the area, following concerns over costs and environmental challenges with the original plan. The decision came after heated discussions at a Council meeting, where alternatives involving berms and retaining walls were proposed but ultimately failed to secure enough support.
  
  
• The Municipality adopted three more of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. Call to Action 45 calls upon the Government of Canada to jointly develop a Royal Proclamation with Aboriginal Peoples to be issued by the Crown. Call to Action 69 encourages libraries to provide more resources and programming on residential schools, and efforts are already underway at the Wood Buffalo Regional Library to enhance these resources through initiatives like the It’s Time to Read Book Club. Call to Action 93 involves revising newcomer information kits to include more information about Aboriginal peoples, Treaty information, and the history of residential schools. The Municipality has now officially adopted 33 of the 94 Calls to Action.
  
  
• Keyano College has begun construction on an Indigenous Student Centre to support cultural practices like smudging and the display of Indigenous art and artifacts, alongside providing a communal kitchen. Recognizing the current space as inadequate, College leadership acknowledged the necessity for improvement and a more culturally reflective space. The new Centre will be built in the Syncrude Technology Centre, and the initial phase will cost $1.2 million, designed with input from Indigenous leaders and visits to similar centres. Funding of $700,000 was secured from the Suncor Energy Foundation, and the Bouchier Family Charitable Trust contributed $250,000.