Keep up with Council
City Council meets approximately every three weeks on Mondays with the exception of July and August when only one meeting is held each month. Meetings are live streamed through SooToday and Shaw Spotlight, along with the City’s YouTube channel.
On Friday’s ahead of City Council meetings, Mayor Shoemaker runs through the agenda for you.
Six Month Reports
City Council meetings can span several hours and cover a wide variety of topics, making it difficult to keep up with everything happening at City Hall. With so much going on in the community and in residents’ daily lives, important local developments can sometimes be missed.
To help keep residents informed, Mayor Shoemaker publishes reports every six months highlighting key issues, initiatives and developments affecting Sault Ste. Marie. These reports provide an overview of the work underway, progress being made and priorities being advanced. Residents are encouraged to read the reports and contact the Mayor’s Office with any questions.
The next six-month report, the first of Mayor Shoemaker’s second term, will be released in spring 2027.
First Term
Fall 2025
Spring 2025
Fall 2024
Spring 2024
Fall 2023
Spring 2023
Council Schedule
2026 City Council Meeting Schedule
January
January 12
February
February 2
February 23
March
March 23
June
June 15 (joint meeting with Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan)
June 22
July
July 13
September
September 21
November
November 9
November 16
December
December 7
Mayoral Motions
An important part of the work as Mayor is bringing motions to City Council that turn ideas into practical steps that create progress for Sault Ste. Marie. Whether the issue is improving municipal services, supporting local businesses or pursuing a major opportunity, a motion provides a way to put a proposal on the table and move it toward action. To view motions introduced by Mayor Shoemaker, visit: matthewshoemaker.ca/motions.
News Coverage
Sault Star: Dealing with derelict hospital property council’s top triumph
“I said it before, and I’ll say it again: Mayor Matthew Shoemaker and city council get kudos for their innovative approach to get something done to a property on the city’s waterfront that has been nothing more than an eyesore for the past decade.” Read more
SooToday: I’m not done pestering: OLG planning to add 150 jobs in the Sault
While he welcomed the new positions, Shoemaker said he views the announcement as a starting point – with hopes to see OLG exceed 150 new local hires by the end of the three-year commitment.
“I’m not done pestering,” he said. “My position has always been that all the jobs should be here because we are the headquarters. This gets us one step closer to that objective.”
It’s a position that’s been heard clearly by the provincial government, who credited Shoemaker’s advocacy as an important part of today’s announcement. Read more
CNN: Taking the Fight Against Steel Tariffs to a National Audience
“The steel worker income in our community doesn’t just support Sault Ste. Marie, Canada. It supports the regional economy, which includes the upper peninsula of Michigan, and that’s why it impacts more than just the Canadian steel market when you impose tariffs on Canadian byproduct because those dollars trickle back into the US.” Read more
SooToday: The future of Indigenous relationships in Sault Ste. Marie
(Chief) McCoy said he can call Shoemaker up anytime, and that he offered BFN guidance when they received the RHT settlement. (Chief) Bell said she has the mayor on speed dial after the two signed the Friendship Accord last month, which created new pathways for economic partnerships, property ownership and collaboration.
“It’s so unheard of to ever have had that kind of relationship,” said Bell. Read more
New York Times: Trump’s Tariffs Tear at the Bond Between Twin Border Towns
And the close bond with the city’s border twin in Michigan has been ruptured as a consequence of the escalating trade war between the two nations. Canadians, who frequently cross the border to live parts of their lives on the other side of the river, are hurt, angry and no longer feel welcome in the United States.
“The tariffs are so specific to our main industry that it feels personal, it feels like the American administration is attacking Sault Ste. Marie,” Mr. Shoemaker, 37, said in an interview this month.
Mr. Shoemaker’s own father worked at Algoma Steel. His mother immigrated from Italy after World War II, sponsored by an uncle who worked at the mill. So did the brothers who came with her, and her sisters’ husbands. Read more
SooToday: Sault mayor’s concerns about opioid deaths brought to Queen’s Park
The limited number of HART Hubs that will open could leave Sault Ste. Marie or other communities in a similar position without support. Gélinas noted Shoemaker’s letter-writing campaign to the Ministry of Health in favour of a hub being located in the Sault.
“Your mayor is doing the right thing by encouraging people to get involved, to write, encouraging to have this dialogue,” said Gélinas. Read more
Sault Star: Port investment is an investment in Sault’s future
The port could serve as a major transportation hub not only for steel, but also for mining, forestry, agriculture, advanced manufacturing and critical minerals.
Looking ahead, the port could also attract new manufacturing investment to Sault Ste. Marie. The port only adds to the inexpensive industrial land in the region, the ready skilled labour market, and close access to rail and road as well. With anticipated growth in Northern Ontario, especially with critical minerals and the eventual Ring of Fire development, the port could very well create a bright future for Sault Ste. Marie. Read more
Sault Star: ‘Fantastic project’: Ford open to talks on Port of Sault Ste. Marie
Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Matthew Shoemaker didn’t let the opportunity pass.
With a front-row audience at a massive funding and expansion announcement for Tenaris that included Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal Minister of Industry Melanie Joly, Shoemaker slipped in a friendly reminder of the city’s top priority and his own request for a deep-water port. Shoemaker pointed out that Tenaris’s $306-million expansion project shows what is possible when government works together with industry and modernizing plants to position manufacturing with growth.
“The story of our community has long been tied to energy and industry,” he said. Read more