A man who spent decades in Yellowknife has been voted in as the mayor of British Columbia’s Harrison Hot Springs.
Fred Talen moved to the NWT capital from Alberta in 1989 and worked for the territorial government until he retired in 2021.
After living in the territory for a little more than three decades, Talen decided it was time to relocate with his family.
He feels the relationships he built – first as director of negotiations at the Department of Executive and Indigenous Affairs, then overseeing self-government negotiations for the GNWT – will help him fulfill his new responsibilities down south.
“I had great opportunities working in the North, travelling in the North, visiting most of the communities in the NWT,” Talen told Cabin Radio on Wednesday.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“I really enjoyed my time in the North and absolutely no regrets living here. It was a fantastic place to have a career and raise a family.”
Talen said he chose to move to Harrison Hot Springs, which is near Chilliwack and home to around 1,500 people, because the location had a “lot of things” the family was looking forward to in his retirement.
“Obviously the Harrison Lake is a beautiful lake, with a fairly wilderness kind of feel to it for southern BC. It reminded us a little bit about the Great Slave Lake and how much we enjoyed being on Great Slave Lake,” he said. “It had lots of access to biking and mountains and mountain biking and hiking, lots of outdoor activities we like to do, and it was a little bit closer to family as well.”
Talen put his name forward to run for mayor in part, he said, because he had learned “how to listen” as a GNWT negotiator.
Advertisement.
Advertisement.
“You’re working in a field where the stakes are very high and you’re talking about really important matters,” he said of his work negotiating self-government agreements.
“That type of work where you’re speaking on behalf of the government gives you the sort of experience in how to manage, how to build relationships, how to build a consensus, how to talk about sometimes very difficult subjects in a way that everyone can have a good discussion about it … and find solutions that work for all parties.”
The Harrison Hot Springs by-election concluded last week with Talen taking on the role of mayor.
He said there is a “fair bit of anxiety” among BC residents when it comes to the risk posed by wildfires, a concern NWT residents know well.
Alongside emergency planning, he hopes to focus on “significant” development proposals before council that will “have a real impact on the village.”
“I am not alone. My counterpart, when I was chief negotiator for the GNWT on Délįnę self-government negotiations, was Danny Gaudet,” Talen said. Gaudet is now the Ɂek’wahtı̨dǝ́, or leader, of Délįnę.
“It’s sort-of interesting for me to be following in Danny’s footsteps a little bit,” Talen said.
“I am kind-of doing the same in Harrison Hot Springs.”
