Northern River Council on Verge of Being Created

Northern River Council on Verge of Being Created

Thursday, July 31, 2003 at 13:15

 

 

 

Local control of northern resources is the main topic of discussion at Northern Saskatchewan’s annual River Gathering.

 

The 5-day outdoor event is getting underway today in Sandy Bay.

 

Churchill River MP Rick Laliberte says participants in previous editions of the River Gathering had talked about establishing a body called the Northern River Council as a means of getting more say on resource management decisions.

 

Laliberte says this is the year the council finally gets created.

 

He says the council will be democratically elected using representatives from smaller resource management councils that will be established along the lines of the existing fur blocks.

 

Laliberte admits the provincial government doesn’t support this idea right now, but says the province will have to eventually realize that northerners want their own version of the RM model currently in use in rural Saskatchewan.

 

Laliberte says he’s not concerned with the provincial government’s lack of support, because northern communities have to get behind this idea first.