Spirit of Sudbury 2001 committee continues 20 years later.

• Author: Gilhula, Vicki
• Position: Brief Article

For Northern Ontario business

The Sudbury 2001 committee was definitely before its time. Or perhaps just in the nick of time. The group of community leaders met in 1976 to find ways to rescue Sudbury from what seemed like the inevitable: the decline and death of this one-industry town.

Following an economic development conference in 1978, the committee planted a time capsule in the provincial building at Tom Davies Square. In addition to microfiche copies of conference notes, the capsule contained letters from children regarding their dreams for their city in the year 2001.

That time capsule was opened Oct. 27 and followed by a ceremony that celebrated the work of the Sudbury 2001 committee.

About 200 people attended the ceremony, including several children who may remember this day 25 years from now when the capsule, reloaded with information about Sudbury at the new millennium, is reopened.

"2001 was a movement in which a group of citizens believed so deeply in their community that they came together and changed the course of history for that community," says Mayor Jim Gordon. He was co-chair of the committee.

"That spirit is still sustaining us today as we move on to a new challenge," Gordon says.

One of the founders of Sudbury 2001, Michael Atkins, president of Laurentian Publishing explains, "The real accomplishment was to bring all facets of the Sudbury community together under the same roof for the first time in history.

"Never before had senior representatives of business...