THE BATTLEFORDS — In a media scrum following the Town of Battleford's Jan., 8 council meeting, Mayor Ames Leslie confirmed that Fort Battleford will open in 2024 but isn't sure about the outcome of the ongoing "consultation process" with community groups.
Referencing the possibility of VIA Rail coming through the Battlefords, possibly opening the community to more tourism, Mayor Leslie told members of the media that, "I think it may be good to push places like ... Fort [Battleford] in the town and the city to maximize the tourism sites and improve them to the point that people want to stop."
SASKTODAY.ca broke the story about Fort Battleford's closure in June 2023. Subsequent reporting found that Fort Battleford had closed its doors after being faced with deteriorating buildings, a lack of volunteers and staff, possible economic pressures, and mounting pressures to change the story with reconciliation in mind.
When asked how progress is coming, he said,
"The town's involved and so is the city and I think we're in the infancy stages ... I wouldn't even say a relationship has been built, yet," Mayor Leslie said, noting that there is another meeting coming up on Jan. 18.
"But I think it's going in the right direction and I think we have a commitment from Parks Canada that it will be opened, now it's the onus on us as a community to make sure we keep going down the path so they don't have an excuse to shut it down again because we missed a step or violated truth and reconciliation again," he said.
"I think the group is strong. I think there are some people now wanting to come on to be part of the consultation because they're seeing that this starting to build some momentum and the right message is starting to be portrayed.
Though a clear list of groups included in the process hasn't been identified at this time, Brad Swiftwolfe with the Battlefords Regional Community Coalition (BRCC) mentioned at his delegation to council earlier in the night that BRCC is involved in discussions.
"So I think, ask me again in March and I think I might have a little more of a positive report," Mayor Leslie added.
