Dane Gibson
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 14/99) - Thanks to a federally-sponsored initiative called the Community Leaders Partnership Program, Thompson, Man., and Yellowknife are forming a friendship.

Storefront for Voluntary Agency representatives Denise Bekkema and Shawn McCann, Yellowknife city clerk Tim Mercer, city councillors Kevin O'Reilly and Dave Ramsay, and Yellowknives Dene rep Ernest Betsina spent five days in Thompson last month talking about the different challenges facing their municipalities.

"We (applied to the partnership program) to share ideas and find out how services and programs are delivered. It was an opportunity to compare facilities with a city that's a similar size to ours," Ramsay said.

"It's helpful to have good relations with a city like Thompson because it's always good to look at how others are doing things. Administratively, the first place we'll call if we're working on new policies or bylaws is Thompson."

Thompson was established in 1957 when INCO United invested $175 million to develop a nickel mine. At that time, it was designed as a planned community.

While in town, the Yellowknife delegates celebrated Nickel Days with the residents. They attended a chamber of commerce luncheon to answer questions about Yellowknife and presented a framed picture of Yellowknife to Thompson Mayor Bill Comaskey.

Ramsay said that after the tour he saw that the two cities, which are similar in population, have much in common.

"It's beautiful country and the town was laid out perfectly by municipal planners," Ramsay said.

He added that INCO is talking about pulling back $6 million in indirect taxes which is going to hit the town hard.

"It's certainly an issue Yellowknife can relate to," Ramsay said.

Shawn McCann is a Storefront youth representative. She said Thompson has some terrific youth programs that she would like to emulate here.

"What it turned out to be for me is a real interchange of information on how youth councils are run and the importance of youth advocacy programs," McCann said.

"Right now in Thompson, they're creating a youth council that relates very much to our Youth Advisory Council at Storefront. We made contacts between the non-profit organizations and exchanged ideas."