Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Haldimand "Council Makes First Nations Motion"

COUNCIL MAKES FIRST NATIONS MOTION
Posted By Donna Pitcher,
CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER
October 7, 2009

Councillor Buck Sloat submitted a notice of motion at Monday's Council in Committee meeting in regards to Haldimand County committees dealing with First Nation's issues. Council also voted to wave procedural bylaws to deal with this motion at Monday's meeting.

The motion deals with all First Nations established Committees in Haldimand County, and that all such committees be dissolved. Future meetings with First Nations will be co-ordinated through the Mayor's office with the applicable Ward Councillor, Council Committee Chair and Staff.

According to Sloat's motion these committees have held few meetings addressing issues that are directly related to their "initial" mandate and that agendas have not been established prior to the meetings.

Councillor Lorne Boyko was under the impression that this would be a reconsideration of a motion, that these committees have already been dissolved. Sloat clarified that this motion would encompass three committees that have not been dissolved. The three committees cover Planning issues, the Recovery Plan and the Native Relations Committee.

Boyko disagreed with Sloat's statement that there have been no agendas for these meetings. "This makes it look like to the public that we attended meetings with no agendas," said Boyko. Boyko was also concerned with the continuity of this motion if an issue crosses ward boundaries.

Councillor Tony Dalimonte supported the motion, and sees this as giving the Mayor's office as much flexibility as possible. Dalimonte also believes that there should be two or three issues on the table before a meeting is planned. "We need to sit face to face", to call one Councillor at a time is wasting our time, "lets get going here and do something" said Dalimonte.

"We have accomplished nothing, absolutely nothing with these committees," said Sloat. "Every time we go around and around and around the issues go beyond what the scope of the meeting was and we need to focus" said Sloat.

Boyko once again disagreed with Sloat's statements, and talked about some issues relating to the differences between our cultures.

In the reading of the final motion the statement was removed regarding agendas. Council voted in favour of the motion with a vote of 4-2, Grice and Boyko voted against the motion, Councillor Leroy Bartlett was not in attendance when this issue was discussed.

http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2046159

2 comments:

  1. It is hard for me to understand why any council member would actually believe that this so called motion (as craig grice said) makes any sense?

    It is clear that our council members are out of touch of reality.

    This motion does nothing put cut all ties!

    How on earth can this be a motion that moves things forward.

    It is too bad that we the residents have to wait another year to oust these idiots!

    I could go on but this just shows everyone that these councillors are not open, therefore why bother!

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  2. Well Well I wondered how long it would take for this to happen. They had certainly cut all ties. I do hope that people don't actually buy into this that this is a good thing, or the right thing to do. Haldimand County Council (at least the majority) have caused more damage with relations with this motion than they would ever realize. Once again some of the arogance of these members has shone through.

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