Cover page logo from CEDI Collaboration Guide
The Town of Saugeen Shores has committed to entering into a First Nation – Municipal Community Economic Development Initiative with Saugeen First Nation. A resolution was passed by council Tuesday.
A staff report says the goal is to improve the economic prosperity of participating communities through economic development planning and initiatives.
It’s called the Community Economic Development Initiative (CEDI), and a Town staff report says it’s a partnership program for First Nations and municipalities that is co-managed and co-delivered by the Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers (Cando) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM).
CEDI’s website says, “CEDI gives First Nations and municipalities a chance to come together, learn from each other and work on common priorities, all while building respectful and sustainable government-to-government partnerships.”
The CEDI program has been around since 2013. Its website says it helps improve land use planning and coordination and can be a practical implementation of reconciliation goals. The CEDI says other partnerships in Canada have increased public and private investment in those communities, and increased labour income as well as created new jobs and saved existing ones.
An initial meeting and workshop was held locally on April 5th. Going forward, a joint working group will be established which will include representatives from Saugeen First Nation and Saugeen Shores.
Saugeen Shores says the Mayor will be part of the group as well as the CAO, the Manager of Strategic Initiatives, and the Economic Development Officer. The plan is for the two communities to meet monthly on community economic development initiatives.
A December 2020 CEDI report says other communities that have had such partnerships include Opaskwayak Cree Nation, The Town of The Pas and Kelsey, Manitoba which aimed to advance an agri-tech project and save a forestry operation in that area. A partnership between Madawaska Maliseet First Nation and The City of Edmundston, New Brunswick worked to attract tenants to the Grey Rock Power Centre which is a retail centre and truck stop overlooking the Trans-Canada Highway. Meanwhile, Edmonton partnered with Enoch Cree Nation on a grant proposal that a report says contributed to $12.5 million in public investment for water infrastructure.
Fort William First Nation and City of Thunder Bay have also had a CEDI partnership mainly centering around the development of an industrial park.
The local Community Economic Development Initiative is expected to continue until January 2025. Whether or not it will have a specific project it will focus on has not been announced.