Sioux Valley casino project on back burner

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This article was published 15/05/2024 (514 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The casino Sioux Valley Dakota Nation wants to open is currently on the back burner, but the community is moving its existing gaming centre from its current location to the Trans-Canada Highway, Chief Vince Tacan said Tuesday.

In February, the Sun reported that the chiefs of Sioux Valley, Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation and Dakota Plains First Nation had signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue the construction of a casino on lands owned by Sioux Valley near the junction of the Trans-Canada Highway and Highway 21.

On Tuesday, Tacan said that while he has met with the mayor of the local municipality as well as Premier Wab Kinew on the matter, he thinks “we’re all a little ways off from dealing with the issue of casinos.”

He said the premier is currently focusing on his work to improve child and family services after he, Families Minister Nahanni Fontaine and many chiefs signed a declaration on Monday promising to give authority over child welfare service for Indigenous kids to First Nations.

“We did get the green light to move our gaming centre up to the (Trans-Canada Highway) to our development on the corner of (highways) 1 and 21, so that’s as far as we’ve gotten,” Tacan said.

Currently, the gaming centre resides within Sioux Valley itself and hosts 60 video lottery terminals, which they plan to move to the property that currently hosts a Petro-Canada gas station.

Eventually, the chief said the community is looking into building possible developments on the property it owns at the highway junction, including a pool, strip mall, pharmacy, motel and a restaurant.

According to Tacan, Sioux Valley is also looking into building a high school closer to the community. At present, Grade 7 to 12 students from the community are bused into Brandon to take classes at what used to be Fleming School.

“We’re actually looking at costing a few options right now, we’re trying to take a pragmatic approach — we’re not trying to look for anything too fancy,” Tacan said.

“Anything would be better than the high school that we have right now where it’s a going concern with the asbestos in the piping. We want to bring our children back. It’s a long day for them to leave early in the morning and then be back later than everyone else.”

Last fall, the community held a public meeting over a law that would allow people deemed dangerous to be banished from its lands.

According to Tacan, no one has been banished yet as the law hasn’t been fully ratified. The language is currently under review to make sure it complies with Sioux Valley’s constitution.

However, Sioux Valley’s council is drafting a new law that would see people known to be dealing illegal drugs like crystal meth prohibited from accessing public housing.

“The greatest cost to us with respect to the use and spread of illegal drugs is the toll it’s taking on our children and it’s also taking a toll on our housing,” Tacan said.

“We have a lot of houses that had to be renovated, retrofitted, fixed and in some cases lost houses as a result of the involvement of meth in the home. It is a huge cost to use, especially at a time when housing is required by a lot of people.”

He said at any given time, Sioux Valley has around 100 families on a waiting list for a new home.

In order to move forward with that law and others, Tacan said a committee is being formed from family and neighbourhood representatives to review proposed laws and recommend which should move forward in the community ratification process.

A facilitator has been hired to work on establishing that committee and developing new laws relating to child and family services and public safety.

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