{"id":89037,"date":"2025-01-30T09:02:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T14:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=89037"},"modified":"2025-02-05T10:53:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T15:53:06","slug":"opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Opportunity trying for special municipal status: Wants to be consulted on highways, industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Pearl Lorentzen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter M.D. of Opportunity council plans to try to get special status as an Indigenous municipality. Throughout the January 22 M.D. meeting in Calling Lake, council returned time and time again to the topic. The M.D. would like to be consulted on highway development and industry, as its First Nations neighbours are. Councillors think special status, recognizing the M.D.\u2019s large Indigenous make-up, would help with that. When discussing advocacy items for provincial ministers at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, Councillor Darlene Jackson (Wabasca) said that the M.D. should ask Minister of Indigenous Relations Rick Wilson that the M.D. be \u201crecognized as an Indigenous community.\u201d Councillor Cherie Courtorielle (Calling Lake) also mentioned that the M.D. should petition Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver about… <\/p>\n

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By Pearl Lorentzen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter M.D. of Opportunity council plans to try to get special status as an Indigenous municipality. Throughout the January 22 M.D. meeting in Calling Lake, council returned time and time again to the topic. The M.D. would like to be consulted on highway development and industry, as its First Nations neighbours are. Councillors think special status, recognizing the M.D.\u2019s large Indigenous make-up, would help with that. When discussing advocacy items for provincial ministers at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, Councillor Darlene Jackson (Wabasca) said that the M.D. should ask Minister of Indigenous Relations Rick Wilson that the M.D. be \u201crecognized as an Indigenous community.\u201d Councillor Cherie Courtorielle (Calling Lake) also mentioned that the M.D. should petition Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver about... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89037","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nOpportunity trying for special municipal status: Wants to be consulted on highways, industry - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Opportunity trying for special municipal status: Wants to be consulted on highways, industry - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Pearl Lorentzen Local Journalism Initiative Reporter M.D. of Opportunity council plans to try to get special status as an Indigenous municipality. 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When discussing advocacy items for provincial ministers at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta, Councillor Darlene Jackson (Wabasca) said that the M.D. should ask Minister of Indigenous Relations Rick Wilson that the M.D. be \u201crecognized as an Indigenous community.\u201d Councillor Cherie Courtorielle (Calling Lake) also mentioned that the M.D. should petition Alberta Minister of Municipal Affairs Ric McIver about\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/30\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-30T14:02:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-05T15:53:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Opportunity trying for special municipal status: Wants to be consulted on highways, industry\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-30T14:02:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-05T15:53:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1033,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/01\\\/30\\\/opportunity-trying-for-special-municipal-status-wants-to-be-consulted-on-highways-industry\\\/\",\"name\":\"Opportunity trying for special municipal status: Wants to be consulted on highways, industry - 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