Plans

The Age-Friendly Working Group, supported by the Town of Canmore, is working toward receiving Age-Friendly Community recognition.

What's Happening

We're working to make Canmore a place where everyone can thrive — including improving accessibility and inclusivity for older adults and seniors.

Seniors are the fastest-growing demographic in Canmore. In response, the Town of Canmore is taking steps to become an age-friendly community — one that supports healthy aging and helps all residents stay active, engaged, and connected.

The Age-Friendly Working Group, supported by the Town of Canmore, is working toward receiving official age-friendly community recognition from the Government of Alberta.

What You Need to Know

The provincial age-friendly framework is based on eight key areas from the World Health Organization's Global Age-Friendly Cities project:

  1. Outdoor spaces and buildings
  2. Transportation
  3. Housing
  4. Social participation
  5. Respect and social inclusion
  6. Civic participation and employment opportunities
  7. Communication and information
  8. Community supports and health services

To receive age-friendly recognition, communities follow four key steps. Canmore is currently in Phase 1.

This recognition would help guide future planning to ensure that programs, services, and infrastructure in Canmore continue to meet the needs of residents as they age.

Phase

Description

Phase 1

Establish a working group

Phase 2

Work with Canmore Town Council to pass a resolution

Phase 3

Conduct an age-friendly assessment of the community

Phase 4

Create an action plan

Get Involved

Are you passionate about making Canmore an even better place for seniors?

We’re looking for community volunteers to join the Age-Friendly Working Group. Help guide initiatives that support healthy aging and a more inclusive, accessible community for everyone.

Deadline to apply: Aug. 10, 2025

Apply for the Age-Friendly Working Group

Questions? Please contact Family and Community Support Services at fcssadmin@canmore.ca or 403.678.3743.

People walk and bike past a metal horse sculpture public art piece by Cedar Mueller on Canmore's Main Street during autumn.
We're making a plan for public art in Canmore.

What's Happening

Beginning in spring 2025, we are developing a Public Art Plan to affirm that Canmore’s Public Art Program is bold, relevant, and inclusive. 

The Public Art Plan will build upon the strengths of Canmore’s existing public art and placemaking policies, procedures, and priorities for public art in Canmore.

The goal is to create vibrant, engaging, and functional public spaces celebrating Canmore's unique character while strengthening the bond between people and place through thoughtful, context-driven, and community-informed public art.

What You Need to Know

Canmore's Public Art Program promotes artistic excellence, design integration, and diverse cultural expression in public art through new commissions and projects that:

  • encourage the creation and enhancement of vibrant municipal spaces and creative neighbourhoods,
  • strengthen Canmore’s identity,
  • enrich the community's experience of public spaces and promote livability and cultural tourism,
  • foster community pride, and
  • enhance Canmore’s cultural assets for current and future generations.

A 10-year Cultural Master Plan was adopted by Canmore Town Council in 2020 to articulate a sustainable, authentic, long-term vision for cultural vitality and public art in Canmore.

The Cultural Master Plan articulates council's desire to integrate art as pillar of sustainability in Canmore. The Cultural Master Plan includes recommendations that are relevant to the development of a new Public Art Plan.

Get Involved

Follow our public engagement platform for future opportunities to share your perspective.

This full rewrite of our Land Use Bylaw is a multi-phase project that will run through 2027

What is Happening

We are rewriting the Land Use Bylaw (LUB) — the document that guides how land is used and the rules around development. This rewrite is a full, start-to-finish update to create a bylaw that is easier to understand, more consistent, and better aligned with Canmore’s future.

This multi-phase project is expected to run through 2027 and includes technical analysis, best practice review, engagement with interest holders and the public, and a full drafting of the bylaw.

What You Need to Know

Since our LUB was adopted in 2018, a lot has changed — including development pressures, community priorities, and new municipal plans that set the direction for how Canmore will grow.

The existing bylaw doesn’t reflect these changes and is often unclear or difficult to apply. A full rewrite will allow us to  modernize the rules, implify the language and structure, improve accessibility and navigation, support key community priorities.

Get Involved

Follow our public engagement platform for future opportunities to share your perspective.