Reserve, municipality spar over band's development plans

The Roseau River First Nation has unveiled a multi-year commercial development for new reserve land north of Winnipeg —but officials in a neighbouring municipality are raising concerns.

Chief Terry Nelson said a gas bar, convenience store and video lottery terminal lounge should be open by mid-October on the plot of land it owns off Highway 6, just north of the Perimeter Highway.

Over the next few years, the band hopes to open a car dealership and big-box stores, eventually employing at least 1,000 people.

The band is financing the project with its own funds and money from private investors, Nelson told CBC News on Wednesday.

"There's no money coming in from anyplace else except our own money and private investors," he said. "There's not a nickel coming out of Indian Affairs for this development at this stage."

Politicians and residents of the neighbouring Rural Municipality of Rosser have complainedthey have been left in the dark about the project.

Rosser Reeve Alice Bourgouin acknowledged that the reserve does not require the municipality's approval to proceed with its plans, but she said shewould have appreciated more consultation.

"It's the thing of sitting down and working together, not doing something like we find out now. It's very disappointing to find out second-hand— that's usually the media— what's happening on that piece of property," she said.

"The R.M. of Rosser council doesn't know themselves, and then you have ratepayers phoning us saying, 'OK, Alice, what is going on?'"

Development not consistent with R.M.'s plans: reeve

Nelson said he plans to send a band representative to brief municipal officials on the reserve's plans on Thursday morning.

"The reality is that the R.M. of Rosser sent us a letter basically saying they would not provide us any services, so that was in the agreement when the land got converted [to reserve status in the spring]," he said.

"Any kind of things that would be required… although we don't have to legally consult with the municipality of Rosser on this issue, we're prepared to do that," he added. "There's no legal issues to be dealt with as far as any development is concerned. It's just a matter of good-neighbour policy."

Bourgouin raised concerns that once the development is built, the reserve could potentially complain about smell, noise or other issues from the existing farming and livestock operations on neighbouring agricultural property.

"We have a planning board and we have to answer to the the province, and they tell us all the time our planning should be consistent. Well, this is not consistent, you're just jumping… halfway across the municipality and setting up a great big commercial development," Bourgouin said.

"I have no problem with setting up any kind of development or businesses, but it would have been nice if it would have been consistent."

She also said the band should work out some type of service agreement with the municipality to determine whether the municipality will provide, for example, fire services to the band's buildings.

Nelson dismissed Bourgouin's complaints as similar to those the band deals with whenever it has proposed urban reserve-type developments.

"With any developments that we've had, we've always had opposition and confrontation," he said. "Any time an Indian wants and has something, the white man comes along and says, you know, 'How come I don't have control of this?'

"It's our land. It's reservation land. It's moving forward," he said.