Cochrane Town council approved Route 22 Artist Collective Gallery to receive $50,000 in funding for the group's 2022 operating budget during a May 9 council meeting.
The funding request is outside of administration's existing policy, said Town interim director of planning and development services, Mike Korman, and the new community services team will be working towards developing sustainable programs and policies to support community endeavours in arts and culture.
“This funding would ensure [Route 22 has] the ability to sustain operations through to 2023 when their formal non-profit status will be achieved,” said Korman. He added the status change would “[provide] them access to alternative funding sources not currently available.”
The decision came after the artist collective sent a delegation to present their request to council at a May 2 committee of the whole meeting.
Korman later clarified to council that the group is seeking charitable status so they may provide donation receipts. They already have non-profit status.
Couns. Alex Reed, Morgan Nagel and Patrick Willson voted against the funding request. Reed was especially clear that his vote does not mean he doesn’t support arts in the community.
“I just think there’s a much bigger community out there in terms of the arts culture that we’re not recognizing,” he said. “I think we might be in a better place to wait until the information from administration comes forward in recognizing that in some form of an arts council that gives all groups in the arts culture the ability to come forward and look for funding.”
Acting as deputy mayor during the meeting, Coun. Marni Fedeyko was initially against the vote, stating that she struggled with the idea of supporting one group of 40-plus artists while neglecting others.
“I just struggle that we’re only supporting 40-plus people under this … where is the rest of the arts community?” she asked, later changing her tune to vote in favour of the request.
Both Reed and Nagel raised further concern over the funding just minutes after council approved a 9.85 per cent residential tax increase.
“I’m really trying to hold my personal spending voting decisions to a very high standard,” said Nagel. “This just doesn’t quite meet that criteria to me.”
Coun. Susan Flowers said she feels Route 22 is a worthy group to support for the returns it can make in the community.
“It’s unique, it’s innovative, it’s one-time funding, it’s a kickstart to a program that could really take off,” she said.
Flowers used BowRivers Edge Campground as an example of a social venture the Town made an investment in that's paid itself back in improvements made to the community.
“It’s put thousands of dollars back in the community and the Town gave them a $600,000 kickstart when they got going,” she said.
The funding request for Route 22 was passed in a majority 4-3 vote.
Indigenous Innovation Centre
There is widespread support for an Indigenous placemaking initiative in Cochrane, but steering committee members are still in search of a space they hope the Town will be able to provide.
Members of the Indigenous Innovation Centre steering committee, proposed by Cochrane Rotary, said they believe the centre would be able to support its own renovations and operations – they just need to find a place to land.
“We are looking for a partnership to say, ‘here’s your spot, we’ll make sure that you guys have a home,’” said Rotary president and steering committee member Kevin Shier.
The centre would provide a space where Indigenous people, who make up about 10 per cent of Cochrane’s population, could see themselves represented in the community.
It would also act as a space to educate and share knowledge.
“First Nations history – the truth – is not told in our K-12 curriculum in Canada,” said Trent Fox, a member of Wesley First Nation who sits on the steering committee. “Our children are not educated or socialized to understand Indigenous issues that we face today.
“It is time to change this. Creating an Indigenous centre would be a great start.”
Fox added the centre would create a space for those interested in learning and making steps toward Truth and Reconciliation. It would also help to “foster an understanding of why colonialism has affected [Indigenous] peoples,” he said.
The centre would be used to host round dances, share Indigenous knowledge and wisdom, and would allow Indigenous people to reconnect with their heritage, relatives, and communities, and reclaim language.
An Indigenous Talking Circle was held by the committee at Frank Wills Memorial Hall last week. It was attended by about 20 people, many of whom were unknown to the committee and who did not know each other beforehand.
“They were Métis, and they were Mohawk, and they were Cree,” said Rotary and steering committee member Michael Bopp. “They were from all over the place, and they came here and they said ‘we’re hungry for a community, we want to be part of something and it’s so wonderful that this is happening.’”
In addition to creating a space for allyship with non-Indigenous people, Bopp said the centre would also act as an Indigenous hub, with navigational and tourism opportunities that would help support its operations.
Eventually, it could also be seen as an embassy.
“It’s the time now for this sort of thing to be happening across Canada and we want you to become part of that,” Bopp said to council.
Councillors received the presentation as information and are expected to return to chambers at a later date for future discussion.
The steering committee plans to host another talking circle soon and encourages everyone in the Cochrane area who identifies as Indigenous to attend and have their voices heard.
Data Sovereignty
Council approved a $74,000 capital project for data relocation to be funded from the Information Systems Technology Reserve.
Some of the Town’s data is stored outside of Canada and is subject to laws of the country in which it is located. The funds will be used to relocate the data to Canada.
Cochrane’s Official Tree
The Grade 6 class of RancheView School can celebrate what was a successful presentation on the importance of trees to council in March.
The students, led by their teacher Bill Belsey, requested to declare the White Spruce as Cochrane’s official tree, to which council voted in favour of last night.
Council will also direct administration to designate areas where students can help to plant trees around town in congruence with the class’s request to declare the first Saturday in June as Arbor Day.
