Council meeting in Fort McKay

IMAGE. Supplied the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo.

Council will meet in Fort McKay Tuesday.

Ron Quintal President of McKay Métis will be presenting a motion to change the hamlet from Fort MacKay to Fort McKay to keep consistency and remove any confusion.

Along with the name change for the hamlet, a public hearing will be held to adopt the Fort McKay Area Structure Plan (ASP).

The ASP is a 10 year plan that started in 2009 that provides framework that will guide the future development of land in the Hamlet of Fort McKay and help address issues identified during the engagement process.

The five guiding principles of the ASP are:

• Promote a sustainable community
• Respect and celebrate the Métis cultural heritage
• Protect the natural environment
• Enhance the physical and social infrastructure
• Create a vibrant community core to promote a strong local economy

The plan will include a definitive boundary for the hamlet and establishes policies ensuring future development of land occurs in manner that maintains the long term integrity of the land.

A request has also been made for Mayor Scott to send a letter of support to the Federal Minister of the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada requesting land in Fort Chipewyan to be set aside as reserve lands for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.

This meeting is the first of several scheduled in Fort McKay for this year, it will be held at Fort McKay School Jan. 23 at 6 p.m.