First Nations aspire to have plan suspended

The Treaty Seven First Nations in southern Alberta are concerned that the South Saskatchewan River Basin Management Plan (SSRB) will hinder environment and economic development. Doug Ohrn, SSRB project manager, disagrees.

A press release issued on behalf of the Treaty 7 Chiefs' Association states that chiefs want to see the implementation of the SSRB management plan suspended because of the "potentially devastating effects on the environment and economic development in southern Alberta, including on First Nation reserves." However, this is not the only reason they are calling for a suspension.
According to Chief Charles Weasel Head Jr. there wasn't enough time to review the SSRB management plan, and the consultation "notion" was just a mere information session.

"The process of consultation has always been an issue for First Nations," said chief of the Blood Tribe. "We're not fully involved in regards to consultation upfront. We know that in our mind that yes there has been some information sessions but I don't refer to them as consultations."

He went on to say that if they look at the minutes from their meetings with the Alberta Minister of Environment Guy Boutilier, it was made clear those meetings were information sessions.

"Never in one of our meetings did we submit to the notion that consultation had happened," said Weasel Head.

The SSRB management plan was passed through legislation on Aug. 30 and Chief Weasel Head is surprised by that because he was told that it wouldn't happen until "our issues with the plan were resolved," Weasel Head said.

"In a July meeting, Minister Boutilier said the SSRB would not be enacted prior to our issues being addressed, therefore, it was news to us when we found out that legislation had passed the SSRB plan. We were given assurance that the SSRB would not be passed until First Nations, most specifically Treaty 7 First Nation communities, were comfortable with an arrangement or agreement."

Sweetgrass was unable to reach Minister Boutilier.

When asked about his thoughts on the comments made in the chiefs' press release, clearly Ohrn hadn't even heard about the comments

"I don't agree with that at all," said Ohrn. "I'd be interested to see what those articles are that are making those kinds of statements because I don't think it could be further from the truth."

He said as far as the environment goes, the plan is causing Alberta environment to no longer issue new allocations of water except to First Nations and that will have the affect of being a good first step to managing the aquatic environment of the rivers better.

"It's not going to make them perfect, but it's going to prevent it from getting worse," said Ohrn. "Under the circumstances it's a very good step towards better management of the aquatic environment."

As far as the economy goes, Ohrn said, for southern Alberta in general there is a large amount of water that's been allocated already and most industries and municipalities have adequate allocations for their needs and for many years into the future.

"The plan actually gives the ability for water allocations to be transferred between users and new users so that new potential users like a new industry would be able to secure water to their needs," said Ohrn. "The plan is saying that the only group that will still be able to apply for water allocations is the First Nations."

In an article published in late September, Grand Chief Sandford Big Plume of the Tsuu T'ina First Nation stated that the proposed ban on new water licenses was determined without consultation. But Ohrn said efforts to consult were definitely made.

"We even hired a consultant to help the First Nations interpret the plan and to help them put comments together on the plan," said Ohrn. "We think we learned about what their interests and concerns were, but the Alberta government really needed to put this plan in place."

One of the key concerns of the First Nations is getting water allocations for their people and economic development on their reserves.

"It was really important to act decisively now to get the plan in place and like I said, the plan puts a stop to allocating water from the rivers with the exception of First Nations can still apply, so that has to be a positive thing for the First Nations, " said Ohrn.

"We did hear that First Nations fall outside of those restrictions, but at this point, we've had no further discussions or there have been no attempts to draw us back to the table so that we can confirm those suggestions about being outside of the plan," said Weasel Head.

According to Ohrn, the focus of the plan was to provide a strategic direction for how they should manage water in the SSRB. The SSRB includes almost all of southern Alberta, including the Red Deer river, the Bow, the Old Man and the South Saskatchewan.

"What the plan says is that we have reached the limit of water source in these areas and if we take any more out of the rivers, it's going to start having an affect on the aquatic ecosystems," said Ohrn. "It's a very large area and it's an area that has a booming population and really only two or three relatively small rivers to try and satisfy all of that demand. Plus, we have aquatic environments including the cotton wood forest that really depends on the water of the rivers to exist and if we take water out of the rivers then that has an impact on them. That's the single biggest thing is that we've essentially reached the limit."