JAG successor considered

Cape Breton Post
Wed., July 30, 2003

Sydney - Interviews on how to engage this community following the September wrap up of the Joint Action Group will be made public in a report planned to be presented in early August.

Parker Donham, spokesperson for the province's Sydney Tar Ponds Agency, said 21 interviews took place during the past two weeks with individuals and organizations interested in the cleanup of the tar ponds and coke ovens sites. Leading the effort was an independent facilitator and representatives from both the provincial and federal governments. "It will be a piece of information we'll use to fashion a form of community engagement" Donham told the Cape Breton Post Monday.

JAG will end Sept. 19th - the expiration date for a memorandum of understanding signed by three levels of government and members of the community-driven process in 1997. Donham said the province is "anxious to avoid a gap" in the present process and the next form of community engagement that will take place.

He added that the cleanup has concluded its phase of investigation and decision and is now entering an implementation phase. "It's likely the form of community engagement will also be different," he said. He added that it will likely be "less involved."