Development of the Taschereau Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Plan

Experiencing hard times since the shutdown of its main employer (a sawmill), the Municipality of Taschereau wants to develop an action plan based on the principles of sustainable development for the entire municipality. The plan’s objective is to enable the municipality to take advantage of available opportunities to diversify its economy and more adequately include social and environmental aspects in its future development. With the adoption of this action plan, Taschereau hopes to be able to maintain and build its population, the number of businesses and services. Taschereau will work within an operational committee in conjunction with the community development assistance organization (Société d'aide au développement des collectivités, SADC) in Abitibi-Ouest and the Abitibi-Témiscamingue regional environment council (Conseil régional de l'environnement de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue, CREAT). This committee will compile the challenges to be met (study of opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses) and define the vision, objectives, targets, and actions for the project. For each action in the action plan, Taschereau will appoint a person in charge and will set a schedule, costs and a monitoring indicator. The action plan will include a section on governance to ensure that the actions are implemented and monitored according to the predetermined indicators. The operational committee will take into account the information collected in various active workshops and consultations with citizens, municipal councillors and employees, and local stakeholders (government departments, community groups, business, and industry). Owing to its sustainable development expertise and knowledge of existing tools, CREAT will carry out and coordinate the project. Taschereau will make sure that the sustainable neighbourhood plan is aligned with the Abitibi-Ouest RCM’s sustainable development plan and with Taschereau’s economic diversification and development plan. Some priorities are already apparent in the plan: adequate development of a local forest; a project to recover residual biomass as an energy source; development of a new sustainable neighbourhood; better waste management; brownfield remediation; and improvement of infrastructure for active transportation. The outstanding partnership between the Municipality, the Abitibi-Ouest SADC and CREAT constitutes a worthwhile approach that pools knowledge and expertise from many local stakeholders in a consultation process. CREAT and the network of regional environment councils could help to expand the use of this planning process to rural municipalities that share the challenges of being isolated and single-industry towns. (Project description from original funding application)