At the Heart of The Matter, Everytime!
Councillor’s Corner - Wednesday April 11th, 2018On April 4th, 2018 we entered into a funding agreement with Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to continue in the Learn More Process and move forward toward bole hole drilling. This is an important next step in the process with our relationship with the NWMO and really all of Canada and the world.
Before we signed the agreement, I initiated a conversation at the council table to discuss what our next steps are as council and as the voice the Hornepayne people. There are many concerns that we need now to consider and be aware of as we move forward more than before. There are only five communities left in the process, with only three areas really being considered. We share our area with Manitouwadge and we may not necessarily get a borehole drill in this process. The next couple of years are critical for our community because ultimately, we need to prepare for the repository or without the repository. As I have stated several times my main objective is making sure we have a plan of sustainability for our future.
Many fear that moving away from NWMO and the potential for a repository will be the death of our community. Please remember Hornepayne will be here whether we choose a Nuclear Fuel Waste Repository or not. What we need to figure out is what we want future Hornepayne we look like and feel like. At council we have been building momentum to set the course to continue the planning process to start implementing action plans to see results.
As always citizens you have a voice, you have my ear. Speak and engage with your council, talk and ask questions, we are here to hear your concerns. There is nothing more than all of us want but to see our community thrive. We can all agree on a few things and this is where we need to come back to, back to our roots. We want our community to grow, to have more services for our seniors, we want there to be jobs, new homes and places for our children to come home and work if they choose to. We need to be accessible so that all citizens can live and play. We want people who move here to find our community welcoming and have services to offer them. All these things that I have just listed can start happening now, we can start planning and working toward a vibrate and fluid future.
It is a pleasure to serve at the council level, thank-you to those that come out to meetings and remember you are always welcome at council meetings. We are a community of just under 1000 people and we can make a future for ourselves that is bright if we work together and seek out the possibilities.
As a follow up to the MainStreet Revitalization Funds we will be discussing different ideas to submit for the application process at our next council meeting and if you have any ideas that you want brought to the table please email me fort.hpayne@bellnet.ca or call me 807 868 2317.
Sincerely,
Councillor Cheryl T Fort
This column is open to all of council to contribute and Cheryl T Fort only contributes when other members have not put forth material.