The city’s Community Action Network program, which has been around for more than two decades, might become a thing of the past.
In a recommendation to city council members they will vote on next week, staff recommend “a transition away from the existing Community Action Network (CAN) program.”
Rather than CANs, the city would “develop a new approach to supporting community groups and volunteerism.”
The recommendation to shift away from a CAN system is central to a Stuckless Consulting Inc. report which the city hired the consultants last year to produce.
Under these recommendations, the city would undertake “a gradual transition away from the current CAN model,” in order “to allow the City to leverage existing programs and platforms to more widely encourage and guide community volunteerism and activities.”
As the Stuckless report notes, “A lot has changed in the City of Greater Sudbury since the CAN program was established; however, the CAN program has not been updated to keep pace with these changes.”
CANs are not representative of their communities, and their activities “are generally representative of project volunteers, and not the broad community,” according to the Stuckless report. “Specifically, CANs have struggled to include youth and young families,” and there’s a notable “lack of cultural diversity.”
Staff recommend proceeding with a transition period from CANs to “ensure the activities and programs of CANs remain supported while new approaches to supporting community groups and volunteers are developed and finalized.”
This transition period is anticipated to stretch between the Nov. 18 city council meeting (assuming members support the recommendations), and cap by the end of March 2027.
The city’s CAN system started in 2002, soon after amalgamation, “to provide a two-way line of communication between the community, City of Greater Sudbury staff, and city councillors to help with the planning and implementation of community initiatives.” There are currently 20 CANs throughout Greater Sudbury.
CANs consist of a small board of community members who oversee meetings, which focus on community issues. A meeting of the Flour Mill CAN last month saw residents informed on the latest coming out of the city’s St. Charles Street lift station improvement effort, which staff attended to field questions. CANs also receive an annual community grant of $2,500.
Past media correspondence with CAN leaders have been stymied by their understanding that they're required to be politically neutral.
Meanwhile, Sudbury.com was barred from attending a Flour Mill Community Action Network meeting on April 8, 2024, despite rules clarifying they should be public. Audio recordings of the meeting showed Ward 12 Coun. Joscelyne Landry-Altmann chair much of it.
In 2023, Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc actively campaigned for Richard Charette’s campaign for Minnow Lake CAN chair in 2023. At the time, a city spokesperson clarified, “There is no policy about city councillors supporting individuals running for community groups, including CANs, or boards and committees.”
At the time, Charette’s opponent in the CAN election, Christopher Duncanson-Hales, countered that CANs were “originally intended as a community voice” and that “the role of the councillors as stepping back and letting the CANs organize, and then hearing what the CANs have to say, responding to what the CANs have to say.”
The role of CANs has become “unclear,” according to the city’s summary of the Stuckless report.
“Many CANs lack resources for community engagement and propose projects outside their original mandate,” according to the report. “The lack of clarity on CAN roles results in volunteers proposing projects outside the program's vision, causing tension when the city cannot support them.”
CANs also “have a vague structure without proper elections, risking undue influence from special interests.”
Their most effective projects are community efforts such as gardens, holiday celebrations and park enhancements, for which the report notes, "governance and administration are not essential.”
Following through on the Stuckless report findings, staff recommend an immediate suspension of CAN standard operating procedures and terms of engagement.
A report on highlighting Healthy Community Initiatives policies (community grants) would be drafted June 2026, and a report on a Community Registry/Affiliate program would be tabled by early 2027, which is described as “a formal initiative designed to support non-profit, volunteer-based community groups by offering them access to municipal resources and benefits.”
This would be followed by the CAN system’s dissolution, alongside the development of a year-round “volunteer training and capacity-building initiatives.”
The $50,000 in municipal funding currently allocated toward the CAN grant program would shift to a new funding stream through the Healthy Community Initiatives fund “to support grassroots, community-led activities and initiatives.”
The public portion of the Nov. 18 city council meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., and can be viewed in-person at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre. It can also be livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.