The city-led task force responsible for pitching Sault Ste. Marie as the future headquarters for the forthcoming Canada Water Agency has released its findings following a months-long process of community engagement.
The report, which is now live on the task force’s website, is the result of 10 in-person and virtual community discussions held between August and December of last year that were facilitated by Lake Huron North Program Coordinator Dr. Elaine Ho-Tassone. More than 200 participants - drawn from local organizations, the Indigenous community, youth and the general public - provided their perspectives for the report.
“We’ve been very strategic and deliberate in having this intensive engagement process discussions with our community, because we know that’s important to the federal government, and the Canada Water Agency through their own community consultations and releasing their own ‘what we heard’ report last year,” said Kathleen Heymans, leader of the task force and manager of business development for the city’s economic development team. “What we’ve heard from the Sault Ste. Marie community is very well-aligned with what the federal report has said - highlighting things like reconciliation, watershed governance, coordination and engaging Canadians, and that’s exactly what we’ve been doing and what we heard from our community here.”
Heymans says there are a pair of key recommendations that could aid the task force’s bid to bring the Canada Water Agency to Sault Ste. Marie.
“One of those insights is being able to continue and maintain our genuine spirit of collaboration with the Indigenous communities, but also to look at ways moving forward to elevate their leadership and partnership in this project,” she said.
There’s also the ecosystem of post-secondary institutions with environment schools locally, in addition to the recently-opened Centre for Freshwater Research and Education at Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
“While Sault Ste. Marie has an amazing geographic location - being central in Canada, the hub of the Great Lakes, the heart of Turtle Island - that we should also be highlighting our expertise in education and freshwater research here,” Heymans said.
The head of the task force says that situating the Canada Water Agency in the Sault could potentially have a positive economic impact for, not only Sault Ste. Marie, but for all of northern Ontario. Heymans believes the project could support other post-secondary institutions across the region in developing freshwater science education and research expertise in the north.
“There’s been some estimates that it could create up to 100 full-time jobs, as well as having tens of millions of dollars in economic impact,” she said.
The task force will continue to build support for the Canada Water Agency in the Sault by reaching out to organizations and stakeholders in order to share information about the project, while it awaits word from the federal government on next steps.
“We are not sure of the timelines ourselves in terms of moving forward with the final proposal or bid to the federal government,” said Heymans. “We’re in a bit of a holding pattern, waiting for direction from the federal government on what exactly that process will look like, because the next step would involve putting together that formal proposal to the federal government, as well as releasing our promotional video.”
The public is encouraged to offer comments and feedback to the task force via email at [email protected]. Additional feedback from community members and Algoma District School Board students can be found on the task force’s website.