City planners, Aboriginal stakeholders discuss future direction of Saskatoon at local meeting
- Fraser Needham | June 17, 2014
Saskatoon is rapidly expanding and city planners want Aboriginal people to be part of the city's future direction.
On June 12, city officials held a planning meeting with the Saskatoon Tribal Council, Central Urban Métis Federation Incorporated and other Indigenous stakeholders.
About 142 people were in attendance.
City of Saskatoon Director of Aboriginal Relations Gilles Dorval, who organized the meeting, says things work best when the city involves Indigenous stakeholders by partnering with existing community groups.
"That is what is successful is our community partnerships with STC, GDI, Radius, Quint Development, all the other organizations that assist in serving Aboriginal people," he said. "So this is just something adding to that."
CUMFI President Shirley Isbister, who was one of the presenters at the meeting, says the number one issue facing Indigenous people in Saskatoon right now is a lack of affordable housing.
"Affordable housing, definitely, between Cress and CUMFI and Quint we have a lot of affordable housing but I think it's going to take hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of units to be able to make it so that people can afford to live comfortably," she says.
Aside from affordable housing, other agenda items discussed at the meeting included economic development, urban reserves, recreation, Aboriginal employment and future city development.
Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison says the good thing about these types of informal gatherings is both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal groups often discover they have very similar goals in terms of what they want out of the city.
"What they're looking for is a attainable, safe, affordable clean housing to live in," he says. "They're looking for jobs, they're looking for security, they're looking for a better tomorrow for their kids, they want recreational facilities for their children. Son of a gun, it's interesting, I think we all want the same thing."
Dorval says feedback received at the meeting will be processed and included on the city's website as part of Shaping Saskatoon.