What an incredible experience
This is a picture of the President of UofC signing a MoU (memorandum of understanding) with Mayor Melissa Blake of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo
I wanted to share with those people that read our blog every so often the story about the incredible experiences I've been blessed with this past week.
For those that don't know, I work for the University of Calgary. I manage an Edmonton office called Calgary Connection - which is actually an office for UofC, SAIT Polytechnic and the Calgary Health Region. So essentially, I work for all 3 - but my employeeship falls under UofC.
The man I work under (Tony Myers) is the advisor to the President of UofC on strategic innitiatives. What does that mean? Well it means that he is the one that looks for areas of opportunity for the UofC in many different facets and figures out how to transform those opportunities into reality. For the past while, he's been working on a Northern Strategy for UofC, exploring how the UofC can work to increase it's potential in Northern Alberta and beyond. The main focus of his attention has been in the Fort McMurray area for some obvious reasons. We've discovered many areas and opportunities that would provide great service to both Fort McMurray and UofC. ...but on with my story.
After many months of "massaging" the idea of UofC, and educating prodominant people of that community (politicians, executives of the development companies, local business people) we invited a select group of leaders to come to the UofC to hear how we thought we could invest in their community to assist with their infrastructure and sustainability issues. The group was strategically selected and was quite small. I was given the priveledge by Tony to join in these meetings and hear what the discussions were and meet some of these people that are making decisions that have a huge impact on Alberta.
What an incredible experience it was. Hearing the issues that Fort McMurray is facing, along with the pride the community has in their region and the determination the people have to find solutions that work for the good of all (of course people have their own personal agendas and there are some that will profit greatly from the activity taking place in Fort Mac) - hearing all of these things and watching these people was so impacting. It really caused me to expand my thinking and I learned alot.
I'm not sure why God put things into action for me to be able to be a "fly on the wall" and have personal discussions with some of these people, but I am grateful for it. I'm confident that in the first three days of this week I was blessed to watch some of Alberta's history in the making.
For those that may be informed a bit with Fort McMurray - these are the people that I was priveledged enough to meet:
Mayor Melissa Blake - whom I find SOOOO intriguing and interesting. Both as a politician and a person.
Bill Newell - Regional Manager - Municipality of Wood Buffalo
Al Adibi - VP Finance and Administration / CFO Keyano College
Jake Irving - Executive Director of Regional Issues Working Group
Mike Allen - President of Fort McMurray Chamber of Commerce
Bernie Blais - CEO of Northern Lights Health Region
Jim Corson - VP HR & Stakeholder Relations for Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.
Tim Bancroft - VP Technology and Public Affairs - Shell Canada Ltd.
Gordon Kemp - Manager of Environment, Health & Safety and Community Affairs - Petro-Canada
Rod McDonald - Executive Director of United Way Fort McMurray
Russ Waddell - Director of Stakeholder Relations for Nexen
Bryan Fayant - Executive Director Metic Local 1935
(FYI - The title of this posting is a link to the UofC's Newstory)
posted by Mike and Tor at 3/08/2007 08:15:00 AM
4 Comments:
what a great learning opportunity! I am sure you took full advantage of the privelege and learned lots.
What will UofC's role be in Ft. Mac?
Thu Mar 08, 09:46:00 AM
That sounds really interesting, and a great opportunity to learn from smart people.
I met up with Uncle LeRoy in Camrose the other day. He said he'd been in a meeting in Kenya with the UN about Climate Change. I just think it must be interesting to hear all the different views people have.
Kathryn
Thu Mar 08, 09:48:00 AM
It is very interesting to hear different sides of the stories.
Right now everyone has an opinion about what Fort McMurray is and what will happen - some opinions more educated than others. So to hear some of the things "from the horses mouth" is neat.
As for UofC's role in Fort Mac - that is yet to be completely determined. The purpose of the events recently was to:
a)outwardly confirm to the public that the municipality of wood buffalo and UofC intend to work together for the common good of both parties.
b)use the events to inform other delegates from the area of the opportunities that lay between them and the UofC
c) use the events as a catalyst to create further initiatives for the benefit of both parties.
The UofC has alot of strength in it's research, since it is a highly regarded research University, so there is already activity taking place up north between the UofC and Fort McMurray. No solidified plan of action has been announced yet, but from what I hear and observed, it's my feeling that the UofC will involve it's Social Work Faculty, along with ISEEE (the Institute of Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy) department to work there sooner than later. I can also see some of our Faculty of Medicine doing some work in that region. We will see...
Thu Mar 08, 01:34:00 PM
Oh, also the EVDS (Environmental Design group) will be working with the City of Fort McMurray to help them rethink the physical planning of their city and also think of some long term planning for the growth of the area that goes with the environmental region.
Thu Mar 08, 01:36:00 PM
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