The first-ever “Community Summit” held here yesterday saw nearly 90 delegates from various sectors and municipalities in the district come together to think about problems we’ll face in the future—and discuss ways to overcome them.
The end result of the day-long summit, which was organized by Times’ publisher Jim Cumming, was a call to create working groups to tackle six key areas defined by the delegates.
The areas include tourism, agriculture, education, value-added wood products, import substitution, and immigration.
The group designated for tourism, for instance, might focus on marketing and developing tourism packages while the agriculture group would look at getting a federal abattoir and foreign investors here.
The import substitution group, meanwhile, would explore alternative, cheaper forms of energy for area industry.
“We have the beginning of a business plan to make things happen,” Cumming said late yesterday afternoon as the program was wrapping up.
Now it’s a matter of seeing who among those who attending the summit want to get involved with the working groups.
“Ten people put their names in yesterday [and] two people called me up this morning after they had thought about it overnight,” Cumming noted.
Packages containing all the information from the summit will be sent out to delegates in the next two weeks, which may get more people to consider getting involved, he added.
Once it becomes clear exactly how many people will be involved in the various working groups, a meeting will be called, “fundamental principles” for the groups will be set, and then they will move forward, Cumming explained, noting the whole the process may end up narrowing down the key areas to less than six.
The delegates came up with the areas of focus after hearing eight presenters speak on a range of topics upstairs at La Place Rendez-Vous yesterday.
Warren Hoshizaki, education director for the Rainy River District School Board, discussed the issues facing education, such as declining population and thus enrolment, as well as the opportunities that may be afforded students in the future.
John Harrison, general manager of the Abitibi-Consolidated mill here, spoke on how the industry in under pressure due to high energy and freight costs, and the higher Canadian dollar vis-à-vis the U.S. greenback.
Richard Bruyere, executive director for the Fort Frances Chiefs Secretariat, gave some insight on current economic development opportunities for area First Nations, and encouraged businesses to form more partnerships with First Nations in the future.
Kim Cornell spoke about the future of agriculture in the district, including the need for a federal abattoir and succession of farm ownership.
John McTaggart discussed the future of retailing in Canada as well as the challenges facing local businesses, encouraging retailers to focus on customer service and “want” value.
Sandy Dickson of Canoe Canada Outfitters spoke on tourism down the road, including use of Crown land and consolidation of camps to provide higher-value tourism experiences.
Bob Jeffery, northern development advisor with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, addressed the changing face of health in the region, how health care will become more specialized in the future, and the increased usage of long-distance medicine via technology.
And Michael Atkins, president of Laurentian Publishing, ITWorld, and Northern Ontario Business, made it in from Sudbury—despite the bad weather—to be the keynote speaker.
He discussed business challenges faced across Northern Ontario and encouraged municipalities such as Fort Frances to become “city states,” take control of its own destiny, take risks, and invest in outside resources to bring in new ideas.
After hearing all the presentations, delegates brainstormed in groups for several hours, first identifying common problems and the most pressing issues, then coming up with ways to minimize potential problems, before identifying the six key areas to be worked on by the community.
Fort Frances Times
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