Kevin Anderson
editor@lapressecommunautaire.ca
KAPUSKASING – After consulting with stakeholders including protective services, the downtown Business Improvement Association (BIA) and the organizing committee for the proposed event, this year’s Indigenous People’s Day celebration will indeed be held on the Circle.
The celebration will necessitate a half-day closure of the municipality’s main hub, from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m.
During that time, the centre hub of the Circle will be closed to traffic. The “spokes” or offshoot streets will remain open to traffic.
Representatives from the Indigenous People’s Day organizing committee made the request to Kapuskasing council to hold the event in the town’s centre several weeks ago. Organizing committee members spoke of the symbolic significance of circles in First Nations culture and of the desire to gain the maximum amount of exposure possible for the event by holding the celebration in the Circle.
At that time, council decided to table the matter until it had the opportunity to sit down with the major stakeholders before rendering its decision.
The matter was revisited at last week’s Committees of the Whole meeting and is expected to officially be given the green light at the next Regular Council Meeting.
