Five things we learned about urban reserves

Many First Nations are taking land back and taking charge of their futures, by creating new reserves within city boundaries – known as urban reserves.

Historically, many First Nations communities were pushed out of city limits. Increasingly, they're reclaiming those sites and turning them into spaces where they have agency over the land's development and governance.

"It's a new era for urban planning," said Ginger Gosnell-Myers, a fellow at Simon Fraser University who works on urban Indigenous planning and policy, and decolonization.

Most First Nations people already live in urban centres, Gosnell-Myers pointed out, "and we're going to be here for the long-term." 

This week on Unreserved, Rosanna Deerchild spoke to First Nations leaders across Turtle Island about the urban reserves they've reclaimed, or are working toward. 

Here are five things we learned:

#1 - It's not just housing. First Nations can get creative about what to include.

Urban reserves bring incredible opportunities for cultural, family, economic, spiritual and artistic endeavours, as well as design, planning and naming, said Gosnell-Myers. "The sky's the limit."

While urban reserves can provide an excellent source of affordable housing – like Squamish Nation's planned Sen̓áḵw property in Vancouver – they can be a site for practically anything a First Nation can dream up.

In Winnipeg, Naawi-Oodena, the upcoming urban reserve created by the seven First Nations that make up Treaty One Nation, is expected to include condo developments, hotels, gas bars and an Indigenous War Museum, according to Long Plain First Nation Chief Dennis Meeches.

#2 - Urban reserves can bring economic prosperity

More than 30 years ago, before Muskeg Lake Cree Nation developed its urban reserve, members saw their community struggle with poverty. Then-chief Harry Lafond says the First Nation realized, "there can be another way." 

In 1988, Muskeg Lake purchased land in Saskatoon and created the first commercial urban reserve in Canada. 

"(We) wanted to make a living and to create wealth, create an economy for our community so that we could address poverty, so that we could address a greater educational opportunity for our young people," Lafond said. 

In Vancouver, the Sen̓áḵw mixed-use development in the works by the Squamish First Nation is expected to be an economic driver for the community. Gosnell-Myers said Squamish Nation intends to reinvest the funds Sen̓áḵw garners into furthering Squamish culture, language, arts, and building more affordable housing "for their members to come home."

#3 - And yet, they're about so much more than money

Standing on the anticipated site of Naawi-Oodena in Winnipeg, Meeches told Deerchild he envisions a prosperous future for all who share in the site, and not just economically.

"We have a spiritual connection to the land," he said. "I believe this offers us a lot of promise for the future, for tomorrow."

Many Canadians don't understand that First Nations communities have existed within what are now city boundaries since time immemorial, said Gosnell-Myers. "The city is therefore on top of ancestral burial grounds, on top of old longhouses," she said. "There are ancestral remains almost everywhere." First Nations have to weigh this, she said, in deciding to what extent they want to develop their land to generate revenue, knowing it may be their best way of reinvesting "in our own cultural legacies, in our own young people."

#4  - Urban reserves don't have to follow all the 'rules'

Urban reserves do not have to follow municipal bylaws, said Gosnell-Myers, because they have independent jurisdiction.

"City lands are subject to provincial laws, federal laws, but they're really managed by a mayor and council," she explained, "whereas First Nations reserves are governed by both the First Nation with the federal government, most likely Indian and Northern Affairs Canada." Because urban reserves are subject to different laws than cities, "[First Nations] get to determine what they want, and no one can tell them otherwise," she said. 

They do, however, have to enter into service agreements with municipalities, for the provision of city functions like water, electricity, sewage and waste disposal.

Still, the Muskeg Lake urban reserve has developed a neighbourly relationship with the City of Saskatoon. "Even though we do have autonomy where we can create our own bylaws and essentially force the city's hand on certain things," said Barrett Greyeyes, the chief operating officer of the band's economic development arm, "we wouldn't enter into that because it's conflicting with what our message is, about being equitable neighbours and partners within the city."

Muskeg Lake First Nation pays taxes just like their neighbours, he said.

"I guess you say, 'Good fences, good neighbours'," he explained.

#5 - Good relations are key 

For too long, First Nations, like those reclaiming Naawi-Oodena in Winnipeg, have faced "barriers and roadblocks and gatekeeping," said Meeches, to access land that's rightfully theirs.  

"Cities are all developed on stolen Indigenous lands," Gosnell-Myers emphasized. "Cities need to undertake a lot of work to ensure that its residents understand whose Indigenous lands they are on."  

And municipalities need to partner with First Nations, she said, to ensure that sewage and water can be accommodated, and that urban reserves can have community centres, schools, fire stations, and community-based services. They need to start building those relationships early on, she said, "so that they can come out with a win-win situation."

In Saskatoon, the leadership of Muskeg Lake Cree Nation has gathered with city leaders every Christmas break for 33 years, said Lafond. "We sit at the table and we share food, and we tell stories and we strengthen."

"It's absolutely necessary," Lafond said. "It's not an accidental thing. If you're going to live with each other, it's like a good marriage: you have to keep talking, you have to keep building and strengthening that connection."

"I think it's really paid off for us."

Produced by Kim Kaschor, Laura-Beaulne-Stuebing, Kate Adach and Roshini Nair.