Craig Gilbert | [email protected]
Jasper politicians plan to keep up the pressure after hearing from the RCMP that they don’t plan to add barracks to their new detachment building.
In a letter dated April 18, client services officer Insp. Shane Ramteemal said the request for proposals for the building went out in January and it’s too late to change the designs now.
“As such, we are not able to revisit the plans for the new detachment nor halt the planning process to include barracks accommodation in the new build.”
Members of council including Councillors Bert Journault and Rico Damota are not convinced it’s a fait accompli.
They agreed as a group to have Mayor Richard Ireland respond to the letter and copy Jasper National Park superintendent Alan Fehr.
“We should even go to the CEO of Parks Canada,” Damota said. “I wasn’t privy to talks with K Division (RCMP Alberta command), but I think this is above their level too. I think it should be done at a higher ground because of complexity. We do have the ministerial decision to make a building cap, Sheila Copps did that when she was Minister of the Environment.
“That’s the level we need to pursue. The door may not be open right now but we need to keep knocking because that’s where the pressure will come from. We have to look out 50 years at least.”
Coun. Helen Kelleher-Empey suggested exploring meetings with attending lawmakers at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference coming up in Halifax at the end of the month.
Journault said the RCMP “clearly lack the information we need to convey on housing. They’re getting a lot of land. They could build something in the back similar to what Parks did taking down a house and putting in five units. The population is growing. We need to house people.”
Ireland suggested cc’ing Fehr in his response.
“The reality is the RCMP is one of the few employers who can take advantage of institutional land for residential use, otherwise they just become a competitor to everyone else,” Ireland said, adding such an opportunity is rare. “I think we have to respond.”
