Provincial honours for Lethbridge and Coaldale
Lethbridge and Coaldale have been recognized with provincial minister’s awards for their efforts in reconciliation and public safety, respectively.
Municipal Affairs Minister Shaye Anderson presented the awards Tuesday at Lethbridge City Hall.
He said it is important that the efforts of communities to improve or protect the lives of their citizens be recognized.
Lethbridge was presented this year’s “Partnership Award” as a result of its new Traditional Knowledge and Use Agreement with the Blackfoot Confederacy Nations.
The initiative identifies and understands places of traditional land use, ecological knowledge and spirituality within the boundaries of the city.
“Working with the Blackfoot Confederacy, I think is incredibly important,” Anderson said. “Truth and reconciliation–Lethbridge has taken the lead on this in the province and it’s nice to see.
“(First Nations) are our neighbours, our friends and family, and we need to make sure we have partnerships with them.
“Lethbridge is doing that. They are listening to the First Nations, they are working with them and wanting to understand traditional knowledge, and help the rest of the community to learn that, too.”
Mayor Chris Spearman called their efforts to this point a “first step.”
“There’s a lot of work to be done.
“When we begin addressing social issues that have existed for decades and have permanent supportive housing — when people are getting housing at an equal level, and people are being employed at the same rates — then we’ll know we have arrived.”
Coaldale was selected for the “Safe Communities Award” in recognition of “an effective, well-rounded and collaborative emergency management training program that has improved the level of emergency preparedness and public safety.”
In 2017, the town launched training initiatives to increase the level of confidence, skills and knowledge of its emergency management team and town staff.
Coaldale Deputy Mayor Jacen Abrey said a lot of work has gone into safety efforts following widespread flooding in 2014.
“We’re prepared in the event a big event happens within our municipality,” he said.
He noted training areas such as incident command, basic emergency command and elected officials courses were all completed in the past 18 months.
Abrey said the goal is to make sure everyone in the community remains safe during an emergency.
“We recognized a couple years ago that the director of emergency management was an important position for more than a volunteer, so we filled that position to make sure we were providing that safe community for people to reside in.”
“It’s an important thing to know,” said Anderson. “We try to do that as a province, but it’s incumbent upon the municipalities to do it, too.”
Anderson said the training is becoming increasingly important.
“We know disasters are becoming more frequent and more powerful. To have our people prepared for this makes sure our communities are safer,” he said.
— with files from Dave Mabell
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