City Hall in North Battleford is lending its support for the North Saskatchewan River to receive a heritage river designation.
The request came in from the North Saskatchewan River Basin Council, who say they have been pursuing the heritage river designation since 2015. This is a federal designation currently given to 40 rivers across Canada.
NSRBC is seeking a nomination from both the Saskatchewan and Alberta government for the designation. Alberta has already expressed support and now they are seeking Saskatchewan support as well.
In correspondence to the city from their manager, Katherine Finn, they asked for the city’s support to help that process along.
By offering support, she stated, “you recognize the river as a natural feature of significance to Canada. You will support tourism through recreation, cultural sharing and promotion of the natural values. It is important to recognition is that you maintain jurisdiction or control and there are no reflections and poles down future development of the river. This concern has been express by several communities in the past.”
Council members liked the proposal.
“I don’t see a downside,” said Mayor David Gillan, who added “it does have the potential for tourism and other benefits in our community.”
The city plans to draft its own letter of support and will bring that back at a future meeting.
