2013 Agreement – Page 3 – Calgary Ring Road

SW Ring Road Signing

At a ceremony today, held at the Tsuut’ina Seven Chiefs Sportsplex, the 2013 ring road agreement was signed by Tsuut’ina Chief Roy Whitney, Premier Alison Redford and Transportation Minister Ric McIver.

(Picture courtesy of Parker Hogan, Alberta Transportation)

Noting the agreement signifies the beginning of a long friendship between the Province and the Nation, McIver stated that the name of the road will be chosen by the Tsuut’ina, and that the project will include Tsuut’ina motifs. Chief Whitney noted that discussions of the ring road through the Nation have been ongoing for ‘over 60 years’, and that the project will bring benefits for the language, culture and economics of the Nation. He also characterized the agreement as probably the most important modern event in the history of the Tsuut’ina.

(Picture courtesy of Amy Lonsberry)

The signing of the agreement marks a historic milestone in the development of this road, and has moved the Southwest Calgary Ring Road project forward with the next steps involving the approval of the federal government. McIver stated in a press release “We will work in partnership with the Tsuut’ina Nation and the federal government to proceed with the land transfer. This work will be guided by a committee with representatives from all parties and we will continue to work together in good faith.”

Once the land transfers have been enacted, the Province will have seven years to complete the opening phase of the southwest ring road.

2013 Agreement and Design

The 2013 Ring Road Agreement between the Tsuut’ina Nation and the Province of Alberta was announced on Friday October 25 2013, marking the conclusion of the latest round of negotiations. A new deal, which was crucial in addressing concerns regarding the previous agreement from 2009, contains new compensation levels, new guarantees, and a slightly modified design for the road.

UPDATE JULY 2015: The Federal Government approved the addition to the Tsuut’ina reserve and the transfer of the road corridor to the Province in May 2015. Click here for all of the details.

The Nation will receive from the Province:

• Guaranteed 5338.1 acres of crown land located to the west of the current reserve, which will be converted into reserve status, valued at $44,420,683.50 (See lands map below). The total land figure includes 5,018.1 acres of crown lands provided as compensation in the agreement (Shown in yellow in the map below), as well as an additional 320 acres of crown land that the Nation will purchase for $1,643,000 (Shown in blue in the map below).
• $275,000,000 in cash
• $65,643,900 additional funds to be used for the relocation and reconstruction costs for homes, businesses and roads currently located in the path of the road.

The Province will receive from the Nation:

• 1058 acres needed for the Transportation Utility Corridor (TUC) where the ring road would be built (shaded green in the map below)

In addition and apart from this agreement, the plan would see approximately 8 acres from the SW corner of the Weaselhead park purchased by the Province from the City of Calgary, while the existing high-pressure natural gas line and overhead transmission lines that run through the park would be removed from the natural area.

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE DEAL

In addition to the financial compensation and land transfers contained in the agreement, there are other clauses that dictate how the road would be implemented.

Continue reading “2013 Agreement and Design”

Southwest Ring Road Deal Accepted by Tsuut’ina Nation

Several media outlets are reporting that in a vote held on Thursday, October 24 2013, the Tsuut’ina Nation voted in favour of accepting a deal to sell and trade reserve land to the Province of Alberta for the Southwest Ring Road. While the results will not be officially announced until midday on Friday, at a press conference to be held by Chief Roy Whitney, the agreement is reported to have been accepted with around 68% of the vote.

The details of the deal have yet to be revealed, though a separate press conference set to be held at 2pm Friday afternoon by Transportation Minister Ric McIver and Premier Alison Redford may contain more information about the agreement. The acceptance of this deal marks a historic agreement between the Province and the Tsuut’ina Nation, on a project first detailed to the public nearly 60 years ago.

On Friday, November 18 1955 Minister of Highways Gordon Taylor addressed the Calgary Chamber of Commerce at the Palliser Hotel with an update of the highways program for the upcoming year. Among the talk of highways and interchanges was mention of a bypass road that would connect the Macleod Trail with the still-under-construction Trans Canada Highway. This road had two proposed routes, including an ambitious long-range plan that would have seen the road travel west along Anderson Road, then north across the Elbow River west of the reservoir. While the route would change and the City would grow, the first public seeds of the Southwest Ring Road were sewn on that day.

Much work will be required over the next few years before a Southwest Ring Road is completed, but it would seem that the groundwork has been laid for both the road itself and future developments on the reserve that will follow.

Details about the road design and the agreement will be covered when they are released.

The History of Ring Road Negotiations

On the day of a vote by the Tsuu T’ina Nation on a potential deal to sell and trade land for the Southwest Calgary Ring Road, it’s worth looking at the history of the negotiations for this road.

Many commentators have made statements to the effect that the City of Calgary or the Province of Alberta have been negotiating with the Nation over land for the ring road for upwards of 60 years. While it’s true that designs for the road, even from the very beginning, have shown the road on reserve land, it cannot be said that true negotiations have been underway since that time. Though conversations have certainly taken place for decades, the current negotiations can be traced back to about 2004, with modern negotiations starting in 1998, and prior to 1984 the Nation were largely opposed to the entire notion of running a major freeway through their land.

1956
The earliest ring road plans are revealed to the public. Mayor Don Mackay states that a small portion of the road, particularly the interchange with what would become 90th avenue, would cross the Tsuu T’ina reserve. Mayor Mackay said “Think of the possibilities for a great tourist attraction this would provide for the Indians… They could line the road, as it crosses their territory, with teepees and provide a wonderful sight.”

Soon the proposed road would be altered from these early plans, and the officially approved route in 1959 was not noted to require land from the reserve. No formal discussions are known to have taken place with the Nation regarding the purchase of land at this time.

(For more on the early road, click here) Continue reading “The History of Ring Road Negotiations”

Land Transfers

There has been discussion about the potential for a land transfer component in the pending southwest Calgary ring road deal between the Province and the Tsuu T’ina. Concerns have been raised publicly about the status of the new land that the Tsuu T’ina might acquire, and whether or not this land would be integrated into the reserve. In a recent Calgary Journal article, Jean Crowder, MP and Official Opposition Critic for Aboriginal Affairs, questioned whether the new lands included in the agreement would in fact be reserve land.

The map above shows the new lands (magenta) proposed to be added to the reserve (red) in the 2009 deal.

Without knowing the details of the 2013 agreement, we can currently only look at the 2009 deal to see how land ownership and transfers were proposed in regards to this project. The details about ownership and transfer that follow are based on the wording of the 2009 deal (which can be downloaded in full here). For a further look at the 2009 deal, click here. Continue reading “Land Transfers”

Casino Access and Bargaining Chips

In July of 2009, Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier stated “One thing is for sure. The legal access to the First Nation’s land is off of Anderson Road. And so we will have to accommodate and work with our neighbours as we always do… At the end of the day, we need to build an interchange at 37th Street SW and Glenmore (trail) and, most importantly, Calgarians just want us to get on with it.” Over the next few days, Bronconier indicated that while access to the reserve would always be maintained at Anderson Road, the access to the reserve and the Tsuu T’ina’s Grey Eagle Casino at Glenmore Trail and 37th street SW was only ‘considered temporary’. This was disputed by the Nation, and soon legal threats were issued over potential limits to reserve access.

The concept of a single, legally required access point between the City of Calgary and the Tsuu T’ina reserve has been raised in recent years by politicians and the media. So too has the suggestion that the access road to the Grey Eagle Casino is only temporary in nature. However, is this really the case? Is the City only required to provide a single connection? Is the entrance to the reserve near the casino provided as a courtesy, or does that access exist as a right of the Nation? The issue around this access point is highly charged, politically sensitive, and like most aspects of this story, comes with a long history behind it. Continue reading “Casino Access and Bargaining Chips”

2013 Referendum

On September 19 2013, Transportation Minister Ric McIver confirmed a story published in the Calgary Journal the day before, and announced that the past several years of negotiations between the Tsuu T’ina and the Province regarding the ring road had come to a fruitful conclusion with the finalization of a new ring road deal. According to the Journal, on September 10 the Tsuu T’ina Council had approved a tentative deal regarding the land and compensation required to build the southwest Calgary ring road through the First Nation reserve. With a deal agreed upon by the Province and the Nation’s Council, all that remains is a referendum of Tsuu T’ina members, which has been set for October 24 2013. This marks only the second time that an agreement will come to a referendum of Nation members; the first, in 2009, was rejected.

Continue reading “2013 Referendum”