Brokenhead Ojibway creates new reserve on outskirts of Winnipeg

Brokenhead Ojibway Nation is expanding its reserve land just outside Winnipeg city limits, in a move the First Nation says will help advance its economic development and self-determination.

Almost 25 hectares (60 acres) of land in the rural municipality of East St. Paul, just northeast of Winnipeg, have been added to the First Nation's jurisdiction, its leadership announced Friday.

Brokenhead Chief Gordon Bluesky said the Treaty 1 signatory has been negotiating with the federal government for nearly 20 years to create the new reserve, and that the announcement has been a long time coming.

"We're trying to fulfil our treaty land entitlement, which is an outstanding obligation from 1871. Our people were promised these lands in 1871," Bluesky said. 

"We've worked long and hard, and I acknowledge my ancestors for having that foresight in terms of having these opportunities available to us. And I'm just here to carry the ball over the finish line."

'We have lots of ideas'

Bluesky said the plot — east of Highway 59 and south of the Perimeter Highway — was purchased in 2009 as part of a larger purchase of over 194 hectares of land in the rural municipality.

It's near Na-Sha-Ke-Penais, the three-hectare reserve the First Nation established on land it purchased in East St. Paul around 2002.

Bluesky said the First Nation is eyeing further economic development.

"We have a lot of ideas," he said. "A lot of that is centrally focused on us getting services here to this site. But essentially, we're looking at some mixed residential, some commercial, some retail."

The chief said the area could become a suburb of Winnipeg eventually as the city grows, but there's a lot of infrastructure required before shovels go into the ground. 

A 'historic milestone'

Federal Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand said there's a lot of bridge-building the federal government must do with First Nations communities.

"There's still 10 communities here in Manitoba that are looking to advance their treaty land entitlements," she said. "These are communities that we definitely want to support."

Chris Henderson leads the Treaty Land Entitlement Committee of Manitoba, and helps First Nations get land promised by the Crown.

He said the announcement is part of a historic process toward recognizing First Nations' inherent right to govern their land.

"These three parcels that were set aside earlier this year, they now fall under the inventory and the jurisdiction of Brokenhead to do with as they please. They don't need anybody's permission," he said. "That is a historic milestone."