Historic partnership with Woodland Cree Nations to help fund P.A.Convention and Cultural Centre
The hot button issue at Monday night’s Prince Albert city council meeting was the proposed partnership between the City of Prince Albert and the Woodland Cree Nations, a group of three smaller First Nations in Northern Saskatchewan, to work together to secure funding for the new Convention and Cultural Events Centre in the Yard District in Prince Albert.
The group making up the Woodland Cree Nations includes the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation, the Lac La Ronge Indian Band, and the Montreal Lake Cree Nation.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was approved and passed by council with a 6-3 vote.
Mayor Greg Dionne wants to be clear that this is not a commitment to start turning over soil tomorrow; this is not an approval of plans in place for a new arena. Instead, this is a partnership between the City and the three First Nations to create a cooperative plan to explore and pursue different ways to fund the construction and operation of the proposed centre.