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New leases on life for First Nations

Seen as better alternative to private property

By: Alexandra Paul

Posted: 08/18/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

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David Meeches

Ready to sign up

FIVE Manitoba First Nations are signed on to the First Nations Land Management Act. Another eight want to jump on board.

They hope the legislation opens the door to land development on reserves to ease the housing crisis and attract commercial investment.

Here who's on the list:

1.Opaskwayak Cree Nation
2. Chemawawin
3. Swan River
4. Buffalo Point
5. Long Plain

Here's who's waiting:

Mosakahikan, Wuskwi Sipihk, Pine Creek, Mathias Colomb, Marcel Columb, Sapotaweyak, Sagkeeng and Grand Rapids.

Before Ottawa's sudden interest in introducing the concept of private property to First Nations, some reserves in Manitoba have been finding success with another less-publicized option: leases.

Ottawa plans to move forward on legislation that would let reserves include private property, so people could take out mortgages and build their own homes. One of the federal government's stated objectives is to help First Nations residents build up equity towards financial independence. A controversial question is whether First Nations property owners would then be able to sell to non-aboriginal buyers, endangering the geographical integrity of the First Nation.

But some Manitoba First Nations are already trying a system of leases they view as an alternative that's safer than the introduction of private property.

The leases are made possible through federal legislation called the First Nations Land Management Act, a form of enabling legislation that lets reserve lands be developed outside the Indian Act.

The Opaskwayak Cree Nation in The Pas has used leases to build 663 homes in the past decade, and Long Plain near Portage la Prairie recently turned to it to design the shape of its proposed urban reserve on Madison Street in Winnipeg.

"We won't have title to the land, but we will control it through leases we register with our land registry," said Long Plain Chief David Meeches.

"In our view, the economic potential of this proposal, we see the Land Management Act as beneficial. It may work for us. I don't see privatization of the land working. I don't see how that will be beneficial... Down the road, you'd end up with a checkerboard First Nation.

"That's a scary thought," Meeches said.

First Nations also come under the control of provincial commerce laws once they opt out of the Indian Act. That adds to the appeal, making it easier to attract investors who want the security of knowing the rules of the game will stay the same on reserve land as anywhere else.

It's not private property, but it's an acceptable compromise for some chiefs.

"I think it is an alternative," said Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Derek Nepinak, who'd like to see the scheme made more widely available here.

"It's regulation, but it's band-based, band-built regulation, including zoning bylaws and so forth for commercial development. That creates a level of certainty that investors are happy with and we see it playing out time and again with communities," the grand chief said.

Across the country, there will soon be more than 50 First Nations operating under this legislation rather than under Indian Act land management, according to the federal Aboriginal Affairs Department in Ottawa.

The legislation allows First Nations to set zoning rules, nail down property values and raise cash through a lease holdings, without risking their land.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 18, 2012 A10

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