YELLOWKNIFE (July 11, 2013) – Last month, the Department of Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), in cooperation with the Northwest Territories Association of Communities (NWTAC) and the Local Government Administrators of the Northwest Territories (LGANT), held a workshop that focused on defining roles, responsibilities, and relationships between the three organizations.
“As community governments across the NWT take on more responsibility for providing services to residents, MACA is working to ensure that they have the best support possible,” said Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs Robert C. McLeod. “The NWTAC and LGANT provide valuable services and a unified voice for elected leaders and local government officials in the NWT. Continuing to build our working relationships with these organizations will only help improve the services available to residents.”
The workshop, held on June 6 and 7, covered a number of areas including clarifying the role of each organization, improving relationships between organizations, identifying synergies, overlaps and gaps in organizational operations and other topics that affect community governments and their supporting organizations.
“Our three organizations are all serving the same customers from different perspectives,” says Clarence Wood, the NWTAC’s Vice President for Cities, Towns and Villages. “Our workshop was an excellent way to coordinate delivery of those services.”
“Everything the NWTAC does is based on building partnerships,” says Tina Gargan, the NWTAC’s Vice President for Charter Communities, Hamlets and Settlements. “Meeting with our most important partners and confirming our relationships will pay big dividends.”
“On behalf of LGANT, I am very pleased with the outcome of these two-day meetings resulting in mutual agreement on strengthening our tri-partite relationships,” said Grant Hood, President of LGANT. “We agreed to common actions and joint communication about our roles and how we will continue working together. This mutual understanding will carry us forward into the next few years working in efficient and effective partnerships supporting LGANT’s role as the professional association of the Local Government Administrators of the NWT”.
Continuing to work with our partners in non-government organizations is a priority for MACA. The services the NWTAC and LGANT deliver provide great value to their membership and complement MACA’s long-term work to build capacity in community governments.
Working closely with partner organizations to provide better services to community governments and residents is helping to build sustainable, vibrant, and safe communities as outlined in the 17th Assembly’s vision of Believing in People and Building on the Strengths of Northerners.
For more information about the NWTAC or LGANT, and the programs they provide, visit www.nwtac.com or www.lgant.ca.
For more information:
David Maguire
Communications and Website Advisor
Municipal and Community Affairs
Government of the Northwest Territories
Phone: (867) 920-3092