North Battleford city officials had some explaining to do to reporters Tuesday over a reference in the City budget to "the negatives of increasing First Nations populations."
That reference had appeared in the preliminary budget document brought down in January.
The line about the "negatives of increasing First Nations populations" drew the ire of one citizen. That person voiced concern to both City administration and the local radio station, who posed a question on the issue in the media scrum with City Manager Jim Toye.
In speaking to reporters, Toye said the reference was "actually a cut and paste from a previous document - that's from the 2011 strategic plan, it's from a community consultation that was done in the fall of 2010, adopted by city council in 2011."
The entire paragraph printed on page 19 of the 2013 preliminary budget document stated:
"The City of North Battleford is rapidly evolving. Previous strategic plans focused on declining populations, decaying infrastructure, the negatives of increasing First Nations populations and a challenging business environment. As 2013 begins, North Battleford is a city of opportunity with an increasing and diverse population, renewing infrastructure, massive capital projects, rising interest in business and residential investment, increased First Nations economic participation, an excited and progressive council and an expert and experienced administration."
Toye elaborated further to reporters about what this referred to.
"What this is really referring to is what the Battlefords used to be part of that came from a 2004 strategic planning process where there were some comments in there regarding First Nations. They weren't all negative, however there were some comments in there. That particular strategic plan was never adopted by city council. So what this comment is really referring to is 'here's what the Battlefords used to be - declining population, poor environment for business, and not friendly with First Nations people.'
"Then the next part of this particular statement says the new North Battleford is going to engage - we're going to look at engaging First Nations, we're going to be looking at expanding our population, expanding our business opportunities.
"This was not a it might seem like a negative comment, but it was a comment on prior years in the city of North Battleford, and the vision for this council is to move forward, work with First Nations and have partnerships and move along in a very friendly way."
the line referring was not included in the final budget document presented and adopted by council Tuesday. Instead, the final budget wording stated, "previous strategic plans focused on declining populations, decaying infrastructure and a challenging business environment."
While the offending line was removed from the final budget document, concern was raised that the reference to First Nations might still be on the City's website. Toye pledged it would be removed, noting "someone could look at it and take it the wrong way and I think that's what happened in this particular case."
