After their decision to table the decision led to backlash from the community, Cochrane town council voted unanimously Nov. 14 to support the proposed Cochrane Indigenous Centre with the provision of space.
A request for support was presented at the Oct. 24 regular council meeting asking for municipal funds to lease the Cochrane Visitor Centre on 1st St. as it was going to relocate to the Town’s recently opened municipal hub, The Station. At the time, Council voted 4-2 to move administration for additional information regarding financial and programming.
The request was to be funded fully for the first year to the end of 2023, 75 per cent of costs covered in 2024, 50 per cent covered in 2025, and the Indigenous Centre Board of Directors would assume full financial responsibility from 2026 onward or the lease would be terminated. An additional request was presented to council for representation on the centre’s board of directors.
The Indigenous Centre is planned to operate as a non-profit organization that will provide the community with educational programming and services that focus on promoting Truth and Reconciliation principles.
A presentation by the executive director for protective and community service, Stacy Loe, outlined that administration had reviewed all information and recommended for council to support the initiative through the requested method.
Coun. Susan Flowers, council representative on the Rotary Placemaking initiative, put forward the recommended action to council. She also thanked everyone for their work and wished the late Jack Tennant was able to witness the decision, as he would have appreciated seeing the multicultural bridges being built with the community.
Coun. Alex Reed also spoke in support of the motion and shared some additional comments.
“For the public record and to be absolutely clear, I wasn’t saying no this request at the last meeting,” he said. “I was simply asking for a pause so that we could answer further questions and gain further understanding.”
He mentioned that although he read through the package twice prior to the last meeting, a reason he asked for a tabling motion was because council received a last-minute email with additional information that he felt was critical in the decision-making process. Since it was received hours prior to the meeting, he said he was unable to read or process the email thoroughly.
“As a politician, you come to expect a strong, negative emotional backlash to some of our decisions, especially given the time we live in – a time when there’s a deterioration in civility and manners in our society, a loss of healthy democratic discussion, and troubling aspirations of people’s political agendas,” he said.
“While my motion again was to simply pause, it was met with contention, anger, bullying, sexist comments, and overall, an unwelcoming and negative response.”
Reed said he found it ironic that, according to supporting documents, the centre is intended to educate others and provide principles of Truth and Reconciliation, unity, collaboration, and mutual respect. He argued none of those principles were attributed towards him after council’s request to pause the decision while they awaited additional information.
He also thanked president of the Rotary club of Cochrane, Clark Drader, for submitting a letter to council regarding the negative feedback from the Oct. 24 meeting.
“In summary, his letter said, in reaction to those negative comments, that a few don’t represent the great work of the whole,” Reed said. “And that the intent of this centre is in fact to promote principles of Reconciliation and Truth, of unity, collaboration, and mutual respect.”
He thanked Coun. Flowers for championing the request on behalf of council and those working on behalf of the Rotary Club and the community to bring the centre forward.
Reed ended by confirming that the Rotary Club is only sponsoring the proposal and not financially supporting it. He also wanted to confirm that if the business plan functions as expected, it will be self-financing and no additional financial requests will be presented to council in the future. Loe confirmed both statements.
Although she was not present for the proposal on Oct. 24, Coun. Tara McFadden said she fully supported the initiative. She mentioned she joined the Rotary Club earlier this year and that the project was something she worked with and supported. She believes the Indigenous Centre initiative will be valuable for Cochrane, particularly given the town’s proximity to Stoney Nakoda First Nation.
“I’m so proud of all of the individuals who are stepping up and making this happen,” McFadden said “This isn’t a government-led initiative … I’m glad municipalities are being given the chance to support it, but overall, I think this is a great initiative of community building and I’m looking forward to seeing the successes of that and I thank everyone that’s been involved.”
Coun. Marni Fedeyko said she supported the initiative during the Oct. 24 meeting and her stance had not changed. Her only question was in regards to how council would be updated in regards to information from the centre.
Loe replied that there are plans to have a diversity and inclusion position, who would act as a liaison between the centre and council for different initiatives. Loe also added that updates could also be presented at committee of the whole meetings.
“This is the first start of social culture change and this is something that needs to be done,” Fedeyko said. “Also, I look at it from an education perspective of educating Cochranites on our Indigenous neighbours.
“And a tourism aspect, there’s a lot of different successes that can be found, so full support here.”
Coun. Patrick Wilson said he liked many elements of the proposal, but struggled with the scope of the centre in regards to how many community members the centre will positively impact to justify municipal funding.
“I would like to think we have done our due diligence here and all the boxes for me, which is a long list, have been checked and this is something that is justified for municipal funding,” he said.
“… and I have to say that I am excited to think of where it could go and I hope in three years once the sunset clause takes effect, … that this is succeeding and thriving.”
Mayor Jeff Genung said his position had not changed since the last meeting and the initiative has his support.
“I’m glad we waited,” Genung said. “I’m glad that we are beginning this initiative from a place where we had a majority of council supporting it versus one where we had a tepid, split result from our council bench.”
