Dear Mayor Savage and Halifax Council,

Our HRM Alliance is a coalition of over 60 diverse groups across Halifax Regional Municipality advocating for a sustainable future through complete communities and greenbelting.
Our HRM Alliance recognizes the challenging position that the Municipality must face in responding to CoVid-19 including adjusting the 2020/21 Municipal Budget. The pandemic has made our values and vulnerabilities clearer than ever. Recent events have highlighted the degree to which our communities value parks, trails, and other opportunities to access nature.

Nature has been recognized to provide significant value to our physical and mental health and it is important that citizens have ready access. The reality is, that many do not have suitable access to nature in their neighbourhood and that these disparities are being compounded in the current crisis. It is imperative that parks and nature become a priority for the municipality now and that delays to parkland acquisition do not endanger our important ecological and recreational spaces. We have the opportunity to re-evaluate where we invest and to find unique solutions to provide equitable access to nature.