Northern Alberta residents pack small town meeting over library's future

Catherine Garrett · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 19, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

For the archetypal time, supporters of the Valleyview library person heard straight from the town's politician and assembly astir a contentious determination to yet adjacent the existing installation and relocate it successful a yet-to-be-built K-12 school. 

The library's backing and aboriginal person go a root of hostility successful the community, located astir 350 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. 

The municipality hallway gathering was called aft weeks of disapproval of the municipality assembly and a fewer heated room committee meetings, including 1 past period that culminated successful the RCMP being called during the nationalist engagement portion. One of the committee members resigned days after.

It followed an probe by CBC's The Fifth Estate that recovered the town's decisions to adjacent and determination the room were conducted down closed doors, with Valleyview residents incapable to person their voices heard. Town officials declined to talk to The Fifth Estate for that story. 

The March 10 gathering was the archetypal opportunity supporters of the Valleyview's nationalist room had the accidental to question officials astir respective caller decisions.

The assembly had antecedently voted to chopped room backing by $60,000 successful December 2023 – astir fractional the town's allocation.

Residents besides questioned however the municipality was appointing room committee members.

Valleyview assembly appoints room committee members, and they tin service 3 consecutive presumption – lone capable to service much if two-thirds of assembly hold to fto that subordinate continue. 

More than 100 radical attended the gathering astatine the town's Memorial Hall, immoderate to person their voices heard, others to perceive the politician and councillors speak. Valleyview is location to astir 1,800 people. 

"The room is not closing," Valleyview Mayor Vern Lymburner said during the municipality hall. 

"We're looking astatine moving it to a caller facility, a brand-new facility.

"We're hoping to halt immoderate of the rumours going astir municipality wherever radical look to cognize a batch astir everything, but successful immoderate instances, they don't cognize anything."

The projected caller abstraction for the room successful the caller Northern Gateway Public School's installation is fractional the size of its existent location connected the town's main street.

"It's done successful a batch of different places and it's a fantastic place. It's a hub successful their community. It takes a small getting utilized to close disconnected the bat, but it does work," Lymburner told the assemblage astir locating a nationalist room successful a school.

Although the municipality hallway gathering was advertised arsenic an accidental for residents to inquire questions of the councillors, the nationalist was not allowed to inquire questions verbally. 

A lectern acceptable up for the gathering was removed, and residents had to taxable written questions. 

Some successful the assemblage called out questions to council members and the politician successful immoderate heated exchanges. 

Hub for queer youth

The existent room is location to the section Gay Straight Alliance, which is considered a touchstone for the section 2SLGBTQ+ community. It's besides a hub of programs for caller Canadians, children's speechmaking groups, and services for seniors. 

In summation to size concerns, members of the section GSA interest the schoolhouse analyzable determination volition not beryllium harmless oregon welcoming, arsenic it could beryllium taxable to provincial regulations surrounding 2SLGBTQ+ look successful schools. 

Brittany Supernault, travelled from Grande Prairie to enactment different queer radical from Valleyview astatine the meeting. 

"How tin you guarantee anyone's safety, if you instrumentality that distant and there's nary space?" Supernault asked the politician and councillors. 

"With each the events that person led up to this, it's created an unsafe town. It's taking distant the harmless abstraction successful this unsafe town. How are you going to supply [marginalized people] with safety?"

WATCH | The afloat documentary from The Fifth Estate:

Coun. Danny McCallum said the municipality has not said the GSA could not usage the caller library.

"We're not denying anyone anything. We ne'er erstwhile said you can't person the space," McCallum said.

"We aren't intending to chopped programs … We privation to enactment successful a marque caller gathering truthful that each radical tin usage the abstraction for their needs."

Lymburner stressed the room volition stay autarkic from the schoolhouse – including with borrowing materials and programming.

"The room volition inactive beryllium a nationalist library. It volition not beryllium a schoolhouse library, it volition beryllium tally by the room board," Lymburner said. 

"So, the teachers volition not beryllium capable to archer the librarians what to bash oregon thing similar that."

However, successful a signaling of a Jan. 29 room committee gathering obtained arsenic portion of The Fifth Estate investigation, room directors were told the schoolhouse committee volition power the space.

Move, fund cuts a fiscal decision: Mayor

According to Lymburner, the decisions astir the determination and fund were chiefly made to prevention money. He pointed retired the existent gathering is 60-years-old with precocious inferior bills and the caller determination volition chopped costs.

The politician said it isn't wide yet however overmuch wealth volition beryllium saved by moving the room to the schoolhouse complex. 

He said depending connected the last statement with the schoolhouse board, the schoolhouse mightiness wage for room unit salaries. 

"You're cutting room programs alternatively of uncovering different ways to marque money," section teen Theo Robertson, who helped recovered the section GSA, said. 

Concerns implicit deficiency of transparency from municipality officials

Among the concerns of residents was the deficiency of transparency from the municipality council, which conducts overmuch of its concern down closed doors oregon via email and did not station interaction accusation for councillors connected the municipality website. 

Last year, councillors adjacent passed a question banning each recordings of assembly meetings.

Following the municipality hall, Valleyview's municipal website was updated to see councillor emails and the mayor's telephone number.

Some Valleyview residents expressed a long-running ailment that they cannot talk during nationalist meetings, including room committee and municipality assembly meetings wherever politicians were making important decisions. 

They besides asked for much municipality halls and ways to prosecute with nationalist officials.