Birdtail controls economic future

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/08/2016 (3319 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At long last, Birdtail Sioux First Nation is open for business.

In a stunning reversal of fortune for the chief of Birdtail Sioux First Nation and his councillors, reserve members overwhelmingly voted in favour of a plan that will allow the band to lease land for commercial and industrial development.

And oddly enough, the First Nation has the former Conservative federal government under Stephen Harper to thank for it.

Three years ago, a simple majority of Birdtail voters who turned out for a day-long vote decided against the creation of a new railway spur along a two-kilometre stretch of reserve land. Out of more than 500 eligible voters at the time, 121 residents voted against the plan, and only 62 voted in favour.

Under the original plan put forward by Chief Ken Chalmers and his band council, about 1,884 acres of reserve land were to be parcelled out for lease to either corporations or to community members who had a business idea and financial backing. Birdtail’s chief and council had convinced the Canadian National Railway to allow a railway spur to connect with their main line, which runs near the reserve. At the time, the council had already negotiated with top oil companies to develop an oil terminal at the site, in order to take advantage of Manitoba’s growing energy sector.

But that first vote was destined to fail. And looking back, it’s not difficult to see why.

In the lead-up to the first vote, Birdtail had lined up several corporations that were interested in building limited partnership agreements with the reserve once land had been designated for lease under changes made by the Conservative federal government to the Indian Act in 2012, as part of Bill C-45 — an omnibus bill that made several sweeping changes to many different federal laws.

The act changed legislation contained in 64 acts or regulations, including the Indian Act, the Navigation Protection Act and the Environmental Assessment Act — all of which was vehemently opposed by the leaders of the Idle No More Indigenous protest movement. In fact, the creation of Idle No More was — at least in part — a direct reaction to Bill C-45.

Prior to Bill C-45, in order to designate any reserve land for commercial lease, a band government had to obtain a majority vote from a majority of voting members — essentially a majority of a majority — for the federal government to approve the designation. If a majority of voters didn’t show up to vote, the band would have to hold another expensive referendum.

The Conservative government’s changes ensured that First Nation communities could green light the lease of designated reserve lands upon the favourable vote of a simple majority of referendum participants, regardless of the number of persons eligible to vote. Birdtail’s vote was to be the first test run of this legislation.

But the change was roundly criticized by Canadian aboriginal groups such as the Assembly of First Nations and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, who pointed to the “arbitrary” changes to the federal Indian Act as an attack on the rights of Canada’s indigenous people.

Further to that, Idle No More organizers said the Indian Act changes allowed for the opening up of treaty lands and territory to potential sale — which was actually untrue. The new legislation merely made it easier for those reserves that wanted to lease land to do so — there were no changes made to the rules governing sales of reserve land.

To Chalmers’ eyes, the changes presented a huge opportunity for his people.

“This is available now,” Chalmers said in 2013. “The process was designed exactly for this, so we could move at the speed of business. The world moves at the speed of business and they go someplace else. We don’t have to go referendum after referendum. It’s not about the almighty dollar. My children’s future is in the mix here.”

But Birdtail’s vote came at the height of aboriginal anger to the Harper government in this country, and Idle No More’s warnings of the dire consequences of joining forces with oil companies and the Conservatives found fertile ground among the Dakota people, and the vote collapsed.

On Tuesday evening, all of that changed, when 148 band members voted in favour of a plan to designate two parcels of land owned by the First Nation for leasing purposes — the recently acquired urban reserve in Foxwarren, and of course the stretch of land near the CN main line that runs near Birdtail. Only 60 were opposed.

So what changed?

Well, the Idle No More movement seems to have run out of steam, especially since the election of a Liberal government under Justin Trudeau. That certainly has changed how First Nations perceive the federal government — more of an ally than an adversary. To be fair, we suggest the Tory change to the Indian Act was a particularly good piece of legislation, even though we quite disliked the fact that it was stuck in the middle of a 400-page omnibus bill.

But more importantly, Tuesday’s vote came with no strings attached. Instead of bringing on potential businesses — such as those in the oil industry — before the community has its say, the community was merely asked to vote on whether to designate the land for leasing. Once the federal process is complete, the community will have complete say over who and what companies obtain the right to lease Birdtail land.

Birdtail has now taken control of its economic future. If all goes well with the federal government and its new partner, CN Rail, the reserve and all of its neighbours in western Manitoba stand to benefit and prosper as a result.