Madame Chairperson, fellow Councillors, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I want to thank you all for coming this afternoon and I want to thank the Chamber for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today. I want to also express my appreciation to George Revie and his team at Persona Communications, who are here today to tape this event for broadcast this Thursday evening. As you know, Persona also broadcasts City Council meetings, and their efforts make it easier for citizens to understand our city and how it operates.
As I stand here today, I am mindful of the fact that I am blessed to be Mayor of this wonderful city, and doubly blessed to be Mayor at such an exciting time in the history of our community, our country, and our world.
Ten days ago, we celebrated a birthday to mark the 125th Anniversary of the founding of the community we now know as Greater Sudbury. It was a tremendous event!
I reflected that day upon how far we have come as a community and what a debt we owe to our forbearers. In our community’s history, thirty-three men – and one woman – have served as Mayor of Sudbury or Greater Sudbury, and many, many more have served as mayor or reeve of our constituent municipalities.
Our 125 year relationship with this land is but a blip in the history of our aboriginal cousins. It is important that we acknowledge the strong relationships we have with our aboriginal community and the strong ties we all share with the land we live on. Aboriginal peoples are the fastest growing segment of our community and it is fitting that one of the signature events in this anniversary year was the first ever Northern Aboriginal Festival. I congratulate the organizers and our partners at Laurentian University and Cambrian College.