Options still open for future of Bowman building
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on March 9, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com City council by a narrow 5-4 motion voted against a motion by councillor Jeff Carlson to rescind a Feb. 15 decision to have administration prepare and develop a competitive RFP process that considers the divestiture of the Bowman Building.That February motion called on administration to report back to council by May 24 on options for the building including its possible use as the home of the Blackfoot Resource Hub.
But Carlson, who was absent from the February meeting, called on council to rescind it due to interest in having the building be used as home for the Hub.
Three speakers made presentations to council saying the Bowman should be used for the Hub. Those speakers, including Mike Bruised Head, Blood Tribe councillor Travis Plaited Hair and Opokaa’sin executive director Tanya Pace-Crosschild told council the Bowman is meant to be a community facility and the wrong message is being sent to the Indigenous community by looking at selling the building.
A sale, it was pointed out by several members of council, is just one option being considered for the Bowman.
City manager Lloyd Brierley told council several potential options are being considered to house the Hub and the Bowman may very well end up being the preferred choice. But he said there may be options that are better.
“The location is still up in the air,” acting mayor Rajko Dodic stated.
The original motion on Feb. 15 was made by councillor John Middleton-Hope and it was approved giving administration the mandate to consider options for the Bowman including its sale.
Carlson wanted council to reconsider the divestiture of the Bowman saying “I do applaud council’s desire to be action-oriented but sometimes taking the time to be thoughtful is necessary and important. Doing right is better than doing it right now.”
Dodic reminded council “the intent of the resolution of councillor Middleton-Hope in his motion of Feb 15, 2022 was to bring back essentially options for council consideration to determine whether or not they would be interested in the Bowman Arts Centre at that time. And that in fact no decision was made about divestiture of the Bowman on Feb. 15.”
May 24 “is the time this could actually be considered and dealt with when we have all the informatiion with respect to the process that at least is contemplated by administration,” Dodic said.
Middleton-Hope said “there’s no indication whatsoever at any meeting, at any discussion either in camera or outside of camera that indicated that this building was going to be sold and it would not be used for the purpose we have been speaking about today. There are other options that are available. This is a business decision. We have a fiduciary responsibility to all of the citizens of this community and that includes examining all of the assets the city has. That’s what we’ve asked administration to do.”
City manager Lloyd Brierley told council “we want to work with the Blackfoot and look at all of the available options, the Bowman being one of them. I think there are some other potentially viable options as well that might be equal or better. There seems to be a lot of focus on on the Bowman, I think there are other options that are potentially equal or better than the Bowman,” he said.
Bruised Head told council in the late 1960s and ’70s when the friendship centre movement arrived in Lethbridge, “looking at those 50 years, we are edging toward a very excellent relationship with the community so the public and Blackfoot perception and the thought of the rejection and the motion against that was very questioned, not only by us but leadership from the Blackfoot community.
“Whatever you do here it radiates like a pebble you throw in a quiet pond. It reaches the boundary” of the Blood Reserve, he said.
“Never think once that what you say and do here is just urban,” he added.
“Everybody has been trying to have some input how to deal with the opioids. And this is going to be one area that will provide counselling, job opportunities, mental health work, et cetera, for the urban people that you see everybody starts criticizing them, especially chamber of commerce and I don’t blame them. But this was an avenue to address those urban issues, front and foremost.
“All of you have to live with that,” he told council of any rejection perception in the community.
Bruised Head said the members of the Blood Tribe spend a considerable amount of money in Lethbridge, using the figure of $200 million.
“We’re people to reckon with in terms of purchase power,” he said.
He said if the city isn’t going to let the Bowman be used for the Hub, it needs to provide another location.
“Put Lethbridge on a good map,” he said.
“We’re still striving on this one hand and kind of mixed message on the other hand,” saying if the hands are put together council will get tremendous support from the First Nations.
“If it’s not the Bowman arts centre, and if you provide another centre, good. But here’s the thing – what if another seven, 10 years buys Bowman? You have to face the music because if there’s no buyers, then that perception of dividing the city again is going to stick with you. So you better sell the building, get a buyer. If not, what we’re saying then, well, why go through all that effort?
Plaited Hair told council they have a challenging job and his role as a councillor for the Blood tribe is “working towards a better future for our people. And all of that includes, like yourselves, economic development, social problems we face, education. We have a challenging job ahead of us, you as city council and those of us who represent on the Blood Tribe council and Blackfoot Confederacy and other first nations…
He said many people have put in a lot of time and effort “to get the job done done. Then unfortunately like in most cases, leadership is where we get stuck.” He said they’re dealing with three levels of government and “it gets very frustrating when good people with good intentions put in so much work for a common goal and it only takes one individual to put a stop to all of it. That’s very sad….as far as the Bowman Arts Centre is concerned, I was part of the initial talks when we were first talking about the Blackfoot Hub.
“Right now, you got to make up your mind what you want to do. If you want to work with us, I am more than happy to work with you and I’m sure I can speak for the rest of my colleagues,” said Plaited Hair who was given the blessing to be the unofficial liaison between the Blood Tribe and the City, a job he said he’s been doing for the last 10 or 15 years.
“Unfortunately we’ve been stalled and I hope we can get over this,” Plaited Hair added.
Cross Child told council there will be far-reaching implications if the Bowman is not used for the Hub.
“It is not merely the rejection of that particular building but an assertion of this council’s leaders to create barriers to relationship building so desperately needed in the current climate of intolerance, both locally, nationally and internationally.
“The reality is that since the settlement of your ancestors on traditional Blackfoot territory in the 1880s, your relationship has always been one-sided, pursued as one of economic benefit, not social benefit. Since our ancestors’ first contacts, our role in your community has been performative, dancing at openings, at Brier Cups, at rodeos and parades, but never relational and never reciprocal,” she said.
“The decision not to open the Bowman to the Indigenous Hub isn’t merely about that one decision but about a decision to allow NIMBY to be endorsed at a leadership level,” she said. Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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