Buckley Belanger is the mayor of Île-à-la-Crosse and serves as a board member for New North. (Photo: Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

By Kenneth Cheung

NEW NORTH

Northern Sask. mayors revive lobby group to push for provincial action

Mar 4, 2025 | 1:10 PM

A group of northern Saskatchewan mayors is reviving a municipal lobby organization to better advocate for their communities, aiming to fill what they describe as a leadership void and years of government neglect.

The decision to restructure New North was made during a recent annual general meeting in Prince Albert, where municipal leaders agreed to re-establish a stronger collective voice for northern municipalities.

The organization represents 35 municipalities in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District (NSAD), ranging from small villages to larger centres such as La Ronge.

Île-à-la-Crosse Mayor Buckley Belanger said northern communities have lacked proper representation in discussions with government and industry, leaving them without influence in key policy and economic decisions.

“The purpose of the municipal organization is to fill a vacuum in northern Saskatchewan,” he said.

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“The First Nation communities in the North are working hard, they’re creating their own regional development corporations, but most of them don’t have a lobby group in which they could throw their resources behind.”

Addressing northern concerns

Former New North board member and current Cumberland House Mayor Ferlin Mackay said revitalizing the lobby group is critical to ensuring northern issues are heard by the government.

“We do have a lot of concerns with the North, and it seems like when we do speak on behalf of our northern communities, it all falls on deaf ears and nothing is being done,” Mackay said.

“Hopefully, our MLAs and new board members will reach out to the government and sit at the table … We want people to work together.”

Mackay, who has been outspoken about northern issues, said communities like his have been left without adequate infrastructure despite being heavily impacted by industries extracting resources from the region.

“They are taking a lot of resources from our communities,” he said. “They’re taking minerals, they’re taking timber from our areas, and nothing has been given back … There are no royalties.”

He pointed to deteriorating roads and environmental damage caused by hydro projects and forestry operations as key challenges in Cumberland House.

“We cry out for help to fix our roads, and even with the water that SaskPower is blocking off,” he said.

“There are quite a few dams blocking our river system, and our river delta is dying out … Now that the forestry industry is harvesting, they’re taking the shelter of the little animals we have in our community.”

A new direction for New North

Belanger said the next steps for New North will be to formalize its structure, hire staff, and begin outreach to government and industry leaders.

“This lobby group is going to be built fairly quickly,” he said. “We want to be at the table when it comes to resource development or social policy because our input is dramatically needed.”

New North board member and La Loche Mayor Lyle Herman said the reorganization is an opportunity to bring fresh energy to the effort.

“I’m hoping to achieve this, but in a way that gives us a stronger voice at the table … where there is community engagement from the First Nations perspective and also from the Métis perspective,” Herman said.

“We should be working together regardless of whether you are status, whether you are Métis, whether you’re not … we should be in this together to take on the government.”

As the mayors move forward with their renewed push for northern representation, Mackay said they remain hopeful but cautious.

“We definitely need this,” he said. “The North has been crying for so long, and nothing has been done.”

In a statement provided to battlefordsNOW, the Government of Saskatchewan expressed its commitment to engaging with representatives from the municipal sector.

“Our Government continues to meet with municipal sector representatives to discuss municipal interests and connect them with various ministries and agencies who can address specific concerns.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com