NORTH BATTLEFORD — There can be only one mayor in North Battleford and the three candidates this year have offered one of the most exciting mayoral races in the city's recent history.
North Battleford’s current mayor, David Gillan, is departing after his challenging yet successful first term with half in the pandemic years, after being elected from a background serving as the city and town finance director.
Gillan is not seeking re-election announcement last April unofficially kicked off the battle to replace him, with political newcomer Terry Caldwell, who has an established brand as a businessman well-known around town, joining the two veterans: Former Little Pine First Nation Chief Wayne Semaganis and longtime city councillor Kelli Hawtin, all to pursue the top job.
Hawtin, incumbent city councillor serving the city for a consecutive decade, officially announced her mayoral candidacy in late September after a few ups and downs — first seeing the uncertainty as a problem for her as a young parent thinking about running for the mayor’s office, but then made up her mind as voters told her they want her to lead the city.
Also on the podium, is Semaganis, the first and only Indigenous mayoral candidate in recent history, who has a wealth of political experience, he was a First Nation chief and has been able to lean on the support from established and well-networked politicians, according to Semaganis, including some current and former provincial and federal figures; With Caldwell, high-profile businessman with a social conscience finding a spot between them, bringing a background as the former president at the Chamber of Commerce and 40 years of experience in business.
Caldwell has been selling his inexperience in politics as an asset, suggesting that it makes him the candidate of change, and a progressive choice for the mayor according to his past campaign — his vision to give people hope by revamping the abandoned buildings in the downtown core and bringing back where North Battleford was once at a decade ago.
All three candidates agreed on problems North Battleford is facing: public safety and lack of trust in police services, unaffordable housing and homelessness. All three have talked — at length — about crime and safety. They presented drastically different plans, nonetheless, for how the city should address each of those issues.
Is the City's policing meeting the public’s needs?
“I think the policing is meeting its needs,” said Semaganis. Yet, the city’s current policing model could be adjusted to better serve the community by the Community Safety Officers (CSOs) working evening shifts (from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m.) to prevent property damage that could cost taxpayers thousands of dollars, he argues, rather than focusing on issuing minor bylaw tickets during the day. Semaganis points out that the RCMP already provides 24/7 coverage, and believes the CSOs’ evening shifts would complement that.
“There's more money saved by protecting properties and businesses than there is handing out tickets for too many grown weeds in your back alley,” Semaganis added
Hawtin advocates for the current policing system which has seen success— as she reckons one major accomplishment of the current council in the last four years was the advocacy with Stats Canada and the removal of ranking the City of North Battleford on the Crime Severity Index — with improvements on communication and cooperation between the RCMP, CSOs, and community groups for both prevention and enforcement.
“I think when people are housed, they have a better opportunity at changing their lifestyle, or a better opportunity at success,” Hawtin said, adding she will be advocating “very fiercely” to other levels of government to secure core funding for such services.Caldwell proposed targeted intervention programs for at-risk youth and their families to break the cycle of violence and crime. He wants safe schools for children and better public parks, which he plans to achieve by “aggressive” lobbying.
Homelessness, shelters, and affordable housing
Homelessness and affordable housing have been top of mind for voters.
Hawtin said the city should work better with existing shelters, social services, and health agencies to understand the types of housing that our demographics need. “We have these projects, but is it a temporary emergency shelter we need? Is it supported housing? Is it low income, multi family housing? Is it senior housing?”
She supports expanding outreach programs for the homeless but cautions against building new, large-scale facilities without a clear plan for sustainability, while continuing to consult with both developers and housing providers.
Semaganis proposed creating a year-round homeless shelter with integrated services, such as mental health and addiction counselling. His plan includes a “work-for-bed” program, where individuals staying in the shelter would be encouraged to participate in community service projects like street cleaning and maintaining public spaces, to integrate the individuals back into the community.
“You're battling your addictions, you're fixing your mental health issues, but you're also being a productive part of the community by keeping the streets clean, shovelling, cleaning sidewalks, cutting grass…That's what I would do for the downtown people,” he said.There is a need to increase more low-income housing and student housing in town, Semaganis stressed, to better accommodate the growing populations, primarily the working class and students.
Caldwell, for his part, argues that private developers are key in expanding the city’s housing stock. He believes that incentivizing the construction of new affordable units will help alleviate the pressure on the rental market and provide long-term solutions to end chronic homelessness.
City’s growth and relationship-building with Indigenous communities
Taking a more pro-business stance, Caldwell supports attracting larger private investments and expanding the city’s industrial base, particularly in sectors that could diversify North Battleford’s economy. He supports tax incentives to attract new businesses to the area, believing that an influx of commercial activity will help stabilize the city’s finances and create jobs for residents.
“We did a trade for some land with the City to actually build eight tiny homes, and we tried to get North Battleford housing… which didn't go very far. And I think the timing is wrong, because what happened was COVID came along and crushed that idea,” he said. “We’re still trying to decide how we're going to do that, but we want to house people in affordable housing.”
Caldwell, who just sold his Porta Bella Restaurant in town to run for mayor full-time, said he is supportive of Indigenous participation in the economy, and is more focused on creating business partnerships that benefit both Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents.
“We need to help those people downtown. Yes, everybody has a big dream that we can make this a busy downtown.”
As a homeowner, business owner, and soon-to-be commercial property owner, Hawtin is more cautious about aggressive development. She argued that North Battleford’s municipal government can be polishing on the existing policies while remaining fiscally responsible.
Hawtin’s position on Indigenous relations is more focused on dialogue and mutual respect. She believes that the city should focus on creating a fair and inclusive environment but is more cautious about embedding Indigenous participation into the economic infrastructure.
“We all know that in the business community, we also have some very exciting projects in the works that will further growth and reconciliation in our city. I'm eager to continue work on a new regional college campus development of our urban reserve lands.
“Large long term projects require experience, and they require long term thinking experience. I'm ready to hit the ground running,” said Hawtin in her pitch to the business community.
With his experience as a former First Nation chief and his current involvement with the Battlefords Tribal Council, Semaganis said stronger collaboration between the City and Indigenous communities is critical to North Battleford’s future — a theme he would return to, again and again, drawing a distinction of his candidacy and his other two competitors.
“I have to bring more to the community. I have to send the message out that we want to make North Battleford grow, and we take real steps to do it, we have those possibilities now… There are ways, but we have to be willing to take those steps as business people, as First Nations, and in fact, even with the new, growing immigrant community that's here, we're going to have to learn to work together, otherwise people will forever have no faith and no use for mayor and council, because we make ourselves irrelevant.”
He advocates for using First Nations land to foster economic development and create partnerships with businesses, including non-Indigenous enterprises, to promote growth for all residents.
“All the businesses, all the property that we own this year, our tax bill that we paid to the city was $900,000 so we do very much deserve to have a say in how the city moves ahead. We are all neighbours. The fact that I'm an Indian, it shouldn't be a bother. It shouldn't make anybody afraid.
“Because we have to become friends, we have to become working business partners, we have to learn to succeed together. And I, as an Indian Mayor, could say those things. I as an Indian Mayor could move those things ahead.
“I'm as human as you are. I live in this town. My kids play hockey. My kids play sports.”
What they love the most about North Battleford
“I have met many people here in my whole lifetime of growing up around my reserve just outside of North Battleford, and then I moved to town. I came here to work,” said Semaganis.
“I love the size of the community. Now I talked about growth, but I love the ability to be able to get across the city in five minutes. I love the people here. The people here are generous, they are caring. It's good friendships and neighbours in this community,” said Hawtin.
“The people are very friendly. You can go out to the street and people say hi, you get to know everybody very quickly here,” said Caldwell.
As one of the city’s senior-most politicians, Len Taylor chose this election to make his exit after two consecutive terms, the incumbents now have nine strong challengers, a cohort of a few political newcomers, who all care deeply about the city, and talk about fixing the public safety issue, and the need for more housing. But each presents a different map to accomplishing their goals and visions for the community.
The city councillor candidates are: Alvin Baptiste, Rodney Fedler, Mercy George, Dennis Mercer, Donald Meriam, Dan Suberlak, Alan Wiese, Darryl Williams, and Warren Williams, and incumbents Thomas (Bill) Ironstand, Gregory (Greg) Lightfoot, Kent Lindgren, and Ross MacAngus.
According to the City of North Battleford, the voter turnout in 2016 was 20.61 per cent, and 18.9 per cent in 2020.
Election day Nov. 13, 2024. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Access Communications Centre, located at 1902-104th St.
