The City of Lloydminster is working to improve intergovernmental relations with Frog Lake First Nation (FLFN).
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The topic was discussed regarding supporting the participation in First Nation – Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI).
The item was presented to council at the March 24 regular council meeting.
Katlin Ducherer, Lloydminster’s economic development officer, clarified how this item came to be.
“This was an initiative by Frog Lake, so they asked us, we agreed. They do have significant land holdings in the city and we thought this would be a great way to have facilitated conversations around that as one of our projects,” she said.
She went on to say projects that fall under CEDI are typically between a municipality and a First Nation.
“CEDI is there as a facilitator, they are trained to facilitate both from a municipality and a nation perspective. They understand both partners very deeply and have training to do so,” said Ducherer. “I think a big part of this is relationship building.”
Coun. David Lopez is the elected official working with the First Nation and says its been eye opening to see a different perspective.
“Being a part of this since the first meeting. I was excited to be on the committee, and as we’ve gone through, I’ve really noticed how different we look at economic development between the First Nations and ourselves, and going to these meetings and trying to understand how they look at business,” he said.
City staff are also a part of this group, Ducherer, Natasha Pidkowa
and Olivia Lay have been appointed to the working group.
Coun. Michael Diachuk viewed this as a positive step forward.
“I think this really highlights that added step in terms of making sure when we see this development within the city, that we are working together and have an understanding,” he said.
The piece of land in question owned by the First Nation came into the city recently.
“Frog Lake owned that piece of land and that piece of land came into the city during the recent annexation a couple of years ago,” said Mayor Gerald Aalbers.
The agreement will see the municipality and the First Nation come together to participate in workshops, meet monthly, and actively participate in the planning for and management of the jointly-accessed Capacity Building Grant alongside other items as part of the agreement.
Council passed a motion to support the participation in CEDI until March 2027.
The next workshop for this program will be in May.
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