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St. Mary's First Nation and City of Fredericton, New Brunswick

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The first round of the Smart Cities Challenge is closed. The Government of Canada announced the four winners (City of Montréal, Québec; Nunavut Communities, Nunavut; City of Guelph and County of Wellington, Ontario; and Town of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia) on May 14, 2019.

Final Proposal title

Executive Summary

"I want a city that's accessible, easily navigable, multi-lingual, a city that is a home, a safe-haven, a welcome wagon. I want a city that's tech-savvy and customizable, a city to like, share, and follow."

– Jenna Lyn Albert, Poet Laureate for the City of Fredericton

"Everyone matters. The City of Fredericton and St. Mary's First Nation are thinking outside the box so that we can develop and plan for today, tomorrow and the future."

– Alan Polchies Jr., Chief, St. Mary's First Nation

"Not everyone has the same needs and wants, but everyone has needs and wants."

– Mike O'Brien, Mayor, City of Fredericton

Challenge Statement

Fredericton & St. Mary's First Nation are collaborating to create an accessible, welcoming, supportive community, starting with youth, newcomers, older adults, and persons with  mobility-related disabilities; recognizing what is important to individuals and connecting them to what matters most, empowering residents with personalized digital tools, data & technology that enable them to create an exceptional quality of life.Footnote 1

Summary

After conducting many rounds of public consultation and listening to citizens speak with passion about issues ranging from basic human needs to the desire for better services, one thing became abundantly clear…the biggest issue facing the community was different for everyone.

With this insight, Smart City Task Force Chair, Adam Bell, approached Deputy Mayor Kate Rogers and asked "what would your best Fredericton be?"

Ms. Rogers, well versed in the City's history, community and ongoing initiatives, responded quickly:

"I want to live in a City that empowers me with a personalized inclusion plan connecting me to things that matter most: Imagine Fredericton, a Digital Fredericton that collaborates with First Nations, welcomes youth, supports newcomers and aging populations, connects people, creating an exceptional quality of life with measurable outcomes."

Thus, laying the groundwork for a Smart Cities Challenge submission focusing on:

  • initiatives underway that have meaningful impacts
  • a layered approach – core, citizen, and connected community
  • putting our most vulnerable, first
  • the data, always capture the data
  • "It's personal"
  • building to replicate

We will build a Smart City that will recognize, connect and enable all citizens, across generations and cultures, in unique and different ways that are meaningful to them.

Spotlight on Finalists cover page

Spotlight on Finalists:
St. Mary's First Nation and City of Fredericton, New Brunswick

Population: 58,220

Focus Areas:

Empowerment and Inclusion

Prize Category:

#smartcitiesCanada

The Jury's Perspective

Read the transcript

Hi, my name is Maayan Ziv and I am the founder of Access Now based in Toronto, Ontario.

I was really excited to be offered the opportunity to act as a jury member for the "Smart Cities Challenge" because I think it's a really unique and innovative way to engage public citizens on the future of their own cities. Providing an opportunity to engage in discussions about the innovative technologies that are available in the future of what they might look like to actually better the lives of people everywhere across the country is just so exciting: using data, using different automative vehicle opportunities or crowd-sourcing components to look at things like health care, transportation, well-being, inclusiveness, empowerment – incredible themes that we saw across the board. So I was just really excited to get involved in and learn about what people across the country were talking about, what is important to Canadians, and where are we going, what is the future of our smart cities?

I was really inspired by the St. Mary's First Nation in Fredericton application because I really loved the emphasis on including everyone. I thought it was really great to see a variety of perspectives, being engaged from homelessness as an issue to people with disabilities, aging population, and youth. I thought it was really fantastic to see ideas about analytics, and different opportunities to engage people using different tools that allow them to find the unique and personal reasons that they can access the supports they need. So it was very tailored, and very inclusive which I thought is fantastic. It was one of the only applications in the mix that really offered a holistic approach and dug a bit deeper when it comes to looking at the needs of people with disabilities. This is obviously something so close to my heart and I was so excited to see this specific application talking about how we can create a more accessible and inclusive city.

The Finalist's Perspective

Read the transcript

The smart cities challenge is a competition that called in Canadian communities to explore how data and connected technology can achieve meaningful outcomes for residence.

On screen:

Smart Cities Challenge

Winning communities

School

The Finalists - $10M category: St. Mary's First Nation and City of Fredericton, New Brunswick

Tell us about your team and your community

Laurie Guthrie ($10M, Economic Development Specialist & Smart Cities Project Manager, City of Fredericton): Fredericton's smart city challenge is a joint partnership of the city of Fredericton and St. Mary's First Nation. There's a needs in our community from accessibility, the more vulnerable segments of our population and through the smart cities challenge, we want to connect them with what matters most so that they can experience an exceptional quality of life.

On screen: Why did you enter the challenge?

Laurie Guthrie ($10M, Economic Development Specialist & Smart Cities Project Manager, City of Fredericton): The city of Fredericton decided to enter the smart cities challenge as it was a tremendous opportunity to really build on some existing initiatives that we had in our community from the road home which is about chronic and episodic homelessness to our non-profit organizations which we really don't have the ability to collect data and connect it with provincial and municipal data infrastructure for better informed decision making.

On screen: Challenge statement: My city does not recognize me or connect me to what matters most; Fredericton will collaborate with First Nations to create and accessible, welcoming, supportive city for youth, newcomers, and an aging population, empowering everyone with a Personalized Inclusion Plan that connects people to create an exceptional quality of life.

Join the conversation: #smartcitiesCanada

Infrastructure Canada

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