FREDERICTON -- The role of Fredericton's poet laureate has generated a lot of talk at City Hall and a motion to change it was tabled at Monday night's council meeting.
"There’s an opportunity to make, make it an option for doing those weekly readings, and if we’re going to do that we have to compensate the poet," said Fredericton Coun. John MacDermid.
The poet laureate opens the council meeting by reading a poem and receives a $3,000 honorarium each year.
MacDermid says an optional additional $2,000 appearance fee will be recommended and discussed for regular appearances at council meetings, bringing it up to an artistic industry standard rate.
The current poet laureate's two-year term ends in January and Jenna Lyn Albert hopes the next poet will have options.
“We're very excited," said Albert. "We're hoping that some of the suggestions that I had made and the former poet laureate Ian Letourneau had made will be considered going forward, which include paying the incoming poet laureate more, maintaining the council meetings, but making them an optional choice so that the incoming poet laurate can decide if it's something they have the time capacity for."
Albert's poems were considered controversial by some council members on topics like the Black Lives Matter movement and abortion rights.
Letourneau hopes they will keep the role as is as a way to share a variety of opinions.
"I really think the controversies are the council's own making. If they didn't like it that's fine, you don't have to like every poem you hear, just say maybe I'll like the poem two weeks from now," Letourneau said. "Ideally, they would consider a different viewpoint, consider a different view from their own and grow as people."
Councillors will discuss the motion dealing with the poet laureate's role on Jan. 11.
