City of Powell River councillors have accepted the joint working group possible name change report and have referred the recommendations to the next city council.
At the August 18 city council meeting, councillor George Doubt made a motion that council receive the report and refer its recommendations to the next city council’s first strategic planning session, which will happen after the next election in October.
“I appreciate all of the work that has gone in by everybody, including the joint working group, and all the people from the community who have participated in the process so far,” said Doubt. “I see a lot of work has gone into it; it’s a useful report. Recommendations are wide-ranging. I don’t think we can just leap into accepting them. There’s quite a few that would require procedural changes for different parts of the governance body of the local area, and many have a financial impact.
“It deserves a little more care and a little more caution, and probably, the examination of a new council after an election, when the whole community has had plenty of time to debate the whole issue.”
Councillor Cindy Elliott said while she agrees it is probably a decision to be made by the next council, as far as how the recommendations would inform the path forward, there is a difference between receiving and accepting the report. Doubt’s motion called for receiving the report.
“From my perspective, accepting means we accepted that the joint working group gave us recommendations and we would thank them for that,” said Elliott. “Receiving the report somehow implies that we are not appreciative of the work of the joint working group and do not accept that they provided us with recommendations.
“If someone could explain the difference to me and how I may or may not be correct in my interpretation, that would be appreciated.”
Chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said there is nuance, obviously, but whether the report is received, accepted, endorsed, or adopted, most of the recommendations need to go to financial planning, strategic planning, or a combination of both to be acted upon.
“By default, given where we are at, whether it was any one of those actions, they would need to go to strategic planning, regardless,” added Brewer.
Doubt said the intention of the motion was to receive the report with respect.
“I said in my comments that I respect the contributions of everybody on the joint working group, and everybody who participated in the process,” said Doubt. “I don’t think there’s anything other than agreement that they have done a good job.
“Going to the strategic planning process will give the incoming council opportunity to discuss each one of the recommendations in detail, put it into a strategy for the incoming council to implement and move forward on, and they can make a determination whether they want to go with particular parts through a procedure process, finance committee or whatever committee council thinks would be the right way to go.”
Brewer suggested the strategic planning session will happen early in 2023.
Southcott, Palm support motion
Councillor Rob Southcott said this is such a large, community-impacting process and that adequate opportunity needs to be provided. He said Doubt’s motion satisfies that basic intent, so he supports the motion.
Councillor Jim Palm said he was also happy to support the motion. He said when the current council was elected, this was not on the radar, and it will be part of the mandate of the new council. He said he was pleased that people are concerned and that they care about the city.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that there is a great deal of talk going on in our community,” said Palm. “The way it has unfolded, it has set off a lot of things in the community that have maybe set us back in terms of reconciliation. There has to be a lot of dialogue, consultation and communication going forward.
“Just as they did in Haida Gwaii, with the renaming of the Village of Queen Charlotte, the mayor of the city made the comment, after the name change was accepted by the provincial government, that it would not have been possible without the consent of the electorate and the voters. We need to hear from everyone. As this process moves forward, I’m hoping we can get to that place where it is a win-win. I don’t see it being a win-win at this time.”
Elliott said she would be more comfortable to forward the matter to the next council in all areas of its business, not just strategic planning. She said the report is a document that talks about relationships between Tla’amin Nation and the city. It was a new process to work through the community accord as opposed to the normal way a city committee would be struck, she added.
Elliott said participants went through growth, working with Tla’amin through the community accord.
“It was very worthwhile and it’s the right thing to do because the city signed an accord with the Tla’amin people,” she added. “It’s important that the city, in its dealings with other communities, lives up to its word. Working through the community accord was the right thing to do and I’m happy we did it that way.
“I know we’re not ready in this community to make decisions about these questions just yet. The conversation requires much more attention from the city, directly to its citizens. We have a lot of work to do in that regard.”
Acting mayor CaroleAnn Leishman said she is appreciative of the work that went into the report. She said she is proud of the report and that the 11 recommendations are strong.
“It will do a very good job of informing the next council on what the joint working group felt needed to happen going forward,” said Leishman. “I do trust that the strategic planning process will happen early in the next council’s term and that it will set the priorities off on a good foot for the next council.”
Council carried Doubt’s motion to accept the report and refer recommendations to the next council, with Elliott opposed.
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