KAMSACK — Recreation is part of community development, says Fitz Shaw, who began work on Nov. 5 as Kamsack’s director of recreation and community development.
Shaw, who has been “in and out” of Canada for 10 years, has been in the Kamsack area since 2021, when he lived in Kamsack. In 2023, he moved to Runnymede, where he lives with his wife, Stacy Hilton, an education assistant at Victoria School, and their two daughters, aged nine and eight years.
For 10 years, Shaw has been a commercial beekeeper and currently tends to about 50 hives placed in three apiaries located in Runnymede, Cote Siding and Kamsack.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in urban and regional planning from the University of Technology in Kingston, Jamaica and has worked as a beekeeping extension officer with the department of agriculture in Jamaica for two years, when he developed an interest not only in beekeeping, but also in community development.
In January, Shaw will become a permanent resident of Canada and will qualify to become a Canadian citizen.
“I’m getting to learn the facilities in Kamsack,” he said, explaining that he has toured the Broda Sportsplex and the OCC Hall and has met with members of the staff.
“My job is to interact,” he said. “You can’t do this job without knowing what the people want. I want to hear from people, then I will work to implement what they want.
“It’s a bottom-up, rather than a top-down policy,” he said.
“Although recreation is a main direction, I do not see recreation as separate from community development. Recreation is part of community development. You can’t have one without the other.
“Currently, I have an open-door policy and will be interested in meeting residents,” he said, urging people to visit him in his office on the lower floor of the Town Hall. In time, he said he plans to set aside one day a week, possibly Friday, to remain in the office much of the day in order to be available to residents.
