PORT HOOD: Municipal leaders in Inverness County reported their visit to the One Cape Breton — Unama’ki Leadership Summit was time well spent.
“It was a gathering of First Nations leaders and municipal leaders from across the island,” said Inverness Warden Betty Ann MacQuarrie, who visited the event along with councillor Jim Mustard and CAO Keith MacDonald.
The event ran on April 4 and 5 and took place in Membertou. The summit included representatives from municipal councils across the island, band councils, Cape Breton University, Engage Nova Scotia, the Cape Breton Partnership, various chambers of commerce, and the business sector.
The aim of the summit was to create meaningful actions to positively impact the island and inspire discussion around working together for the benefit of all Cape Bretoners.
“We had an excellent session, and one thing stemming from it is to appoint one person from each of our councils and band councils to sit on a team to move this forward – the working together aspect,” MacQuarrie said.
“The team is going to meet on a regular basis, and perhaps One Cape Breton Unama’ki will be held on an annual basis.”
After a bit of discussion, Inverness Municipal Council got its representative.
“Councillor Jim Mustard has been very involved with First Nations, and he’d be a great representative on the committee,” said councillor Laurie Cranton.
“I’d certainly be interested in representing our council,” Mustard said.