Author: CLARION

“FOR CAUSE” DISMISSAL A POSSIBLE TOOL TO ENFORCE ACCOUNTABILITY?

“Get the hell out of my office.”

When you say something like this to another person, you had better be confident in your own security, in your own authority, and have a pretty healthy and robust understanding of where you fit in the grand scheme of things.  

Otherwise, you’re just asking for it.

Those words up top, I’m sure, have been used innumerable times by innumerable people all across this great land of ours, but I want to hone in on them because they were said right here in Renfrew, by a Renfrew treasurer, to an elected Renfrew councillor.

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SPEED DATING PROPOSED AS A MEANS TO COMMUNICATE WITH SENIOR STAFF

Perusing the agenda document released in advance of Tuesday’s double meeting of Renfrew Town Council, I came upon what could only be characterized as an attempt by senior administration to try something bold, something new.

It appears, if you squint, that they’re going to make an effort to — gasp — communicate.  Well how about that?

Perhaps the brainchild of our own senior staff, or perhaps something picked up in fruitful discussions with other municipal CAOs and clerk types at the recent AMO conference, it represents a high-water mark in terms of providing insight into the dark mysteries that swirl in the closely-guarded backrooms of Fort Renfrew.

The plan is brilliant.

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ALGONQUINS HOST 36TH ANNUAL POW WOW

PHOTO GALLERY BELOW

They had me at the opening prayer.

I first came across it maybe thirty-five years ago, back in North Bay, where an Ojibway reserve was right next to the city, its residents an integrated part of the place.  As well, many Indigenous children from northern reserves attended the same high school as I did, so there was a Native presence in my school that exposed the rest of us to aspects of First Nations culture.

It was Chief Dan George who introduced me to the Creator Prayer, not in person mind you, but through a VHS video tape I was viewing while studying English as a Second Language at Nipissing University.

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WARDEN DISCUSSES VTAC

Two busy men coming together on a hot Saturday morning to discuss the common good.  One, the Warden of Renfrew County, was on his way to the AMO, a conference of all Ontario municipalities in Ottawa.  The other, a late-to-the-party hobby journalist, was attempting  to give off the impression of being busy by attending a pow-wow hosted by the Algonquins of Pikangikum.

Time was short, so I, the hobby journalist, wanted to get as much information about VTAC as I could, thankful that I had the opportunity in the first place, albeit brief.

The result is informative and engaging, all the result of the Warden illuminating the back story of VTAC, something important to every resident in this County.

While not my original intent, I’ve decided, with permission, to post the entire 18 minute conversation, because I think people need to hear, and need to know how this thing got started, how it was nurtured and implemented, and what the track record might be to date.

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