Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation Urban Office

PETER BALLANTYNE CREE NATION
th
Chief Joseph Custer Reserve - 2300 - 10 Avenue West
P.O Box 2320, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada S6V 6Z1
Phone: (306) 765-5388 ∙ Fax: (306) 922-1450
URBAN OFFICE
To:
From:
Date:
Re:
Urban Members
Councillor Warren McCallum
Thursday, November 6/2014
Update Community Report
This is the quarterly report to our membership outlining our activities this past spring, summer and fall. I
want to extend a thanks and gratitude to those who have helped us out with the endeavours we have initiated
here at the Urban Office. From sports, cultural and community activities, these things are not possible without
the support of the membership. The Thanksgiving dinners last month are a prime example of the community
coming together to meet and feast.
We have been busy with our Recreation Program whereby we help out the youths and adults in whatever
sport or activity they decide to pursue. We don’t limit what people do but within reason we can assist in
helping people participate in what they love to do.
We are also helping out Post-Secondary students with tuition costs and books same as last year where we
successfully funded 22 students in completing their semesters. This year we are again at 14 people but others
will be starting in the winter semester so it will be similar in number. These are for urban students who
qualify to attend courses but were not able to access funding from PSSSP or Woodland Cree.
We also have provided members with acquiring safety tickets from A2Z here in Prince Albert and additional
training costs as they occur. This benefits people who are trying to gain employment whether it’s here in the
urban areas or up North in the mining organizations.
We also sent Elders to a cultural camp in Denare Beach where they had a great time.
As you are all aware, the funding we receive through our SIGA and Tax Rebate revenues is based on our
population and although those funds are never enough, we are finding other ways to increase revenues to our
office so that we can increase our level of support to you now and into the future. More and more people are
coming to the cities for health, education or employment and we need to be able to help them out as much as
is reasonable. I would like to thank you for your continued support and regular input about how to best serve
our membership and I have taken great care to ensure that we continue to meet the needs of our people.
Tiniki.
______________________________________________
PBCN Urban Councillor
Amisk Lake
Deschambault Lake
Ph: (306) 362-2490
632-4608
Fax: (306) 362-2490
632-4488
Kinoosao
758-3030
758-3030
Pelican Narrows
632-2125
632-2275
Prince Albert
953-4400
953-4420
Sandy Bay
754-2213
754-2255
Southend
758-2144
758-2188
Sturgeon Landing
688-2170
688-4646
Urban Treaty Day Celebration and Kids Fest
We were pleased with the 2014 turnout at the Urban Fish Fry
Treaty Day and Kids Fest. The kids were able to get into the
bounce castle this time around and a hundred kids plus were able
to get animal balloons and temporary tattoos done and everyone
went home with cotton candy. We hope to be able to expand the
kids fest to other things come next summer. I want to thank all the
cooks and support people that came out to assist. The office
provided enough fish and food for 250 and before the afternoon
was over, all the food and extras were gone. I want to thank Bev’s
Fish and Seafood for providing the tents and cooking equipment.
Father’s Day BBQ 2014
For mother’s day photos please go to
www.pbcnurbanoffice.ca
Urban Graduation Celebration 2014
For the 2nd time ever we had a celebration dedicated to our PBCN Urban Youth who graduated from
high school this past June. I want to thank again the urban office team that spent so many hours
getting the Parkland Hall ready for the event and also for the many graduates and
parents/guardians and families than attended. It was a great success. Each graduate was honored
by being presented with gifts and acknowledgements from Vice-Chief Bobby Cameron from the
Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the Grand Chief of the PAGC Ron Michel and our very
own PBCN Chief Peter A. Beatty plus Member of the Saskatchewan Legislature (MLA) Doyle
Vermette. Many elders and other dignitaries came and were met with a happy group of people
enjoying the great food and festive atmosphere. We will continue this PBCN urban graduation
celebration in the years to come. We hope the graduates enjoy their very own laptops while
attending PSSSP.
Urban Thanksgiving Dinners 2014
Other things we supported this year are:
Elders Cultural Summer Camp July 2014 and a Youth Camp anticipated for this winter 2015
Kiskaciwan Playground with help and support of ICFS grant of $15,000 and Urban contribution of
$6,600. Thanks to Vera Sayese and Child and Family Services for their support.
The Urban Van has been used all year for various activities and we also supported those who
needed the vehicle to head to Lac St. Anne and also to help those who lost loved ones in our
communities. We are in the process of acquiring another van but with wheelchair and disabled
access so that we can better serve our community.
Land acquisition near Saskatoon. As your urban councillor I have been working on getting land
for the use and benefit of the whole of PBCN and recently we were successful in buying 160 acres of
land Northwest of Saskatoon. It is now under the TLE process to convert it to Reserve Status and
this will take a couple of years.
Elders support assistance payments are on-going and will start this month and go until April. This
income supplement is used to help out the elderly in our communities that need financial assistance
during the cold winter months. It is a minimal amount but with more than 50 elders now being
helped it does become an expensive endeavour but this too will continue.
Bed and Breakfast. We are in the process of buying a 10 to 12 bedroom facility to put it on the
Chief Joseph Custer Reserve to house patients coming in from our northern communities. We are
anticipating a spring-summer start to the business and this will allow us to hire between 6-10 staff
from the urban areas to work. This creates jobs and builds infrastructure in the community.
Kiskaciwan Development Incorporated. We started a new company to ensure that whenever the
Urban Office starts creating jobs and employment we will have a company that will help run the
businesses. We will provide an annual report outlining all of our activities and this is a recent event.
Sports and recreation. As per our policy of assisting sports, culture and recreation we are happy
to state that we helped and supported dozens of people in everything from the martial arts, music
hockey and other personal interests.
Lastly, because emergencies are sensitive issues this office will not release names of the people who
have asked and received support. I hope you understand and as urban Councillor I will respect your
privacy and not divulge the purpose of your request. I thank you your time in reading this report.
I am attaching a summary of expenses during the past year and if you have any questions, please
don’t hesitate to contact me at any time. If anyone has any ideas for improving our community
please stop by and go over your views. I am open to doing whatever is necessary to improve the
lives of our people and if an idea is sound and we can find the financial resources, I will support it.
Tiniki
PBCN Urban Councillor Warren McCallum.