Community Corner:
The Municipal Environment Committee
Did you know that our Municipality has an Environment Committee? Yes, we do.
Who we are: The Committee is made up of a group of environmentally conscious volunteers appointed by the Municipal Council, two Municipal Councillors, a Staff Resource person and a Recording Secretary.
Our Mandate: The Committee’s Mandate, as set-out by Council and found within the Committee’s Terms of Reference, is, “to provide leadership, education, and action on environment best practices, with emphasis on identifying local aspects of adaptation to and mitigation of climate change and to make recommendations to Council on attaining the goal of Environmental Sustainability for the Municipality of Sioux Lookout”. For a complete list of the committee’s responsibilities please visit the Committee’s page on the Municipal website at:
https://www.siouxlookout.ca/en/your-local-government/environment-committee.asp
What we Do: Some of the committee’s more popular projects that you may be familiar with are Sioux Lookout’s community garden, curbside swap, and the production of a recycling poster.
Other projects the committee is working on include exploring composting options, bee friendly lawns, mow free zones and waste reduction.
As part of its responsibility to provide informational/educational opportunities, the committee ran a booth at the Chamber of Commerce Home and Trade show during Blueberry Festival and in February set up an informational display booth at the Kenora District Municipal Association (KDMA) annual conference hosted by Sioux Lookout.
With the recent announcements by both the Provincial Government and Federal Government to ban many single-use plastics by 2021, the Committee is looking at what other municipalities within northwestern Ontario are doing on how our community would implement such a ban. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has made it impossible to meet in person, the Environment Committee is still actively working. You may have read articles recently posted by the Environment Committee in The Sioux Lookout Bulletin. Community gardens are considered essential for food security and ours will be running again this year albeit following directives for opening as required by the Northwestern Health Unit.
Should you have ideas or suggestions for the Environment Committee, please reach out to the Staff Resource, Mr. Jody Brinkman, at [email protected].