Village of Candle Lake satisfied as province adds temporary facilities after several removed

By Jaryn Vecchio

Everything is expected to be back to normal at the Village of Candle Lake in the very near future after multiple facilities were closed down.

Earlier this summer, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport removed a dock, restroom and fish filleting shack. The ministries claimed the facilities were in poor condition and in desperate need of repairs.

Candle Lake Mayor Terry Kostyna told paNOW replacements have been set up for everything except the fish filleting shack, but that’s expected to happen as early as this week.

He said there’s also a good chance that each of the original facilities could be back in the near future.

“As we understand, they were removed and stored elsewhere, so we’ll see what happens with that,” he said.

Kostyna added the whole situation has caused a lot of confusion in the village and, in his opinion, the provincial government.

Despite the facilities being on the Ministry of Environment’s land, they were being maintained by staff with the Ministry of Parks, Culture and Sport with some, including Kostyna, thinking there may have been a communication error.

For the village, there was confusion around the actual conditions of the facilities.

“The existing structures that were removed didn’t seem to be in any different condition than the other ones we’ve seen and checked out since,” Kostyna said.

However, the village has no plans on trying to blame anyone for the closures, instead focusing on improving its relationship with both ministries to ensure nothing like this happens again.

One idea up for discussion is having the village take over responsibility for the structures.

“We said, ‘How can we participate if it’s something you’re not interested in doing?’ and we enter into some sort of agreement,” said Kostyna. “Perhaps we maintain it and they own it.”

Meanwhile, talks between the village and the province aren’t stopping anytime soon.

Along with these facilities, Kostyna explained the village also is planning to use the opportunity to discuss other important topics like emergency services, fire plans, waste management, and more.