North Battleford city council heard from a delegation representing the Battlefords Immigration Resource Centre at an Aug. 20 meeting.
Annette McGovern, the BIRC’s executive director, and board vice-chair Benedict Feist gave a presentation on the recent growth in the number of immigrants coming to North Battleford and on ways to assist them. Included were numbers from the 2016 census, which showed 1,370 people have immigrated to North Battleford since 2001, and that 1,070 were non-Canadian citizens.
Mayor Ryan Bater welcomed the presentation, saying that in his time on council he didn’t recall BIRC coming forward with information.
He called immigration a relatable issue because, with the exception of Indigenous people, “all of us are here because somebody immigrated at some point in our family’s past.”
Amendments passed to waterworks system and sewerage system bylaws, both of which included new provisions specifying the flat rates for six-inch pipes, were also approved at the meeting.
The rates for water are a flat rate of $1,119.76 monthly, or $864.27 for underground infrastructure. For sewage charge is a flat rate of $1,384.29 monthly, or $1,370.52 for underground infrastructure.
Rates for six-inch pipes had previously not been included in the bylaws. The issue needed to be addressed because a new six-inch meter has been acquired to provide water to the new Saskatchewan Hospital, which is close to completion.
In other news from the council meeting, a public hearing was held on zoning bylaw amendments to add crematoriums as an accessory use to funeral homes in the C3 - Arterial Zoning District, and to add car washes as a permitted use in the C4 - Regional Commercial District. No objections were raised. The zoning bylaw will return to council for a vote at an upcoming meeting.
