Band, town negotiate to bring Wal-mart to area

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The Adams Lake Band may soon have a Wal-Mart store on reserve. They are aiming for April 2005.

Actually the band has seven reserves, two of which are within the boundaries of the Municipal District of Salmon Arm where plans for a shopping mall are percolating.

Joyce Kenoras, who holds the economic develoment portfolio for Adams Lake Band, explained their plans and their deal with the District of Salmon Arm.

While the proposed development will be a boost to the region's economy, expected to create 200 jobs, a big part of the story is the recent collaboration between the reserve and the town, which promises to benefit both.

"Adams Lake and Salmon Arm do have a history," Kenoras said, concerning land the band developed "quite some time ago," when relations between the band and the municipality wasn't as amicable as now.

Half of Adams Lake's 700 members live on reserve, and about 100 live in Salmon Arm, a community of a little over 16,000 people located 106 km east of Kamloops on the Trans Canada Highway.

In 1995, the band and the municipality were in a dispute over services to reserve land that ended up in court. The court decreed the municipality had to provide services to reserve land within its boundaries.

Around 1998, the two parties signed a municipal services agreement. But with the Wal-Mart development imminent, the agreement had to be revisited.

In addition, "The land that we're talking about (for the shopping mall) happens to be CP (certificate of possession) land," said Kenoras.

Adams Lake members hold a certificate of possession for the land where the shopping centre will go, "which in Indian terms is probably the closest thing to fee simple," Kenoras explained. A family may have occupancy and use of such a piece of land and decide its use, but Adams Lake band members determined long ago that CP land "should not be for the full and exclusive benefit of just that one band member or that one family.

"What we have done is we have negotiated with any of our members who have got CP land, who develop on their land, that they give a portion of their lease dollars to the band, so it basically spreads that good fortune to all the membership. We take that portion and put it into services that benefits the whole membership-education, recreation, housing."

Last fall the band and the CP holder in question came to an agreement about how he would use his land.

When Wal-Mart expressed interest in coming to Salmon Arm, Wal-Mart and the CP holder talked first, but "ultimately the band and the district had to be involved, because in the municipal service agreement basically what we've said is that any kind of development that comes onto our land, we would make sure that the district is aware of it so they could provide the services to the best level that they can."

The band realized the District of Salmon Arm had to be involved in providing services for the proposed development before the mall or the Wal-Mart could proceed.

"Come January," said Kenoras, "there were some deadlines that needed to be met, because ... they were targeting for Christmas to be open."

What Wal-Mart does, when they come in and identify where they're going to build, is have the details handled by First Pro Development, which brings Wal-Mart in and then other anchor tenants. In this case, they want to build "a little strip mall."

The land is not covered by treaty.

"The land question is a big political issue, so what we deal with every time we open up the land question ... is jurisdiction, number one, underlying Aboriginal rights and title and uses of land ... that's why it's phenomenal that we've that we've been able to do so much in such a short time."

The band has worked out "the big issues" with the district, and will tie up the details in a few more meetings, Kenoras said.

"The reason it's been so hard, is the District of Salmon Arm at one time before Native bands had our taxation authority,they took the taxes from our land." When a developer comes onto reserve land, the band now taxes them based on their assessment value. "So it's been really difficult for them ... to actually give up that taxation."

The band brought in the Indian Taxation Advisory Board to advise them how to proceed.

The agreement with the municipality hit a snag at the start of this year when the municipality said before it signed to service Lot 7 for the proposed mall, it wanted the band to agree to pay a large sum for road maintenance.

Kenoras said the band recognized the municipality was under some pressure by a segment of the population that does not want the development to go ahead. She said the mayor and council felt it would be an election issue if they did not get money from the band for municipal services.

Originally, the municipality wanted the band to contribute to a global infrastruture plan.

"That doesn't just mean the roads that are on our land and their land. It's a bigger plan," said Joyce Kenoras.

She explained the municipality puts 35 per cent of its entire budget towards roads and it wanted the band to pay a share of the global infrastructure plan that was beyond the band's financial means. Approximately $40,000 in the first year; $90,000 in the second year, $120,000 in the third year, and increasing incrementally indefinitely.

"There was a very large jurisdictional issue that had to be dealt with here," said Kenoras.

It could have become extremely polarized. What the parties decided to do instead of fighting was to sit down and talk. The talk involved some "very hard negotiations over the space of a few days, because there were deadlines in place."

In the end, they worked out the whole agreement "in a matter of days." Kenoras gives a lot of the credit to the mayor of Salmon Arm, Colin Mayes. She added the current municipal officials are not the same ones that took the band to court in the mid-1990s.

As a result of their expanded servce agreement announced Feb. 16, a portion of taxes the band collects on its land will go towards the global road infrastructure of Salmon Arm.

"Investing in the global road infrastructure of the District of Salmon Arm is of benefit to both the band and our taxpayers," said Chief Ronnie Jules. "The band believes that because our reserve lands are surrounded by the District of Salmon Arm, the development of this land was only a matter of time. It makes sense to work together."

Mayes said, "This ground-breaking agreement is a testimony of the respect and co-operation that has been the foundation of the relationship between the district council and the Adams Lake band."

Kenoras was asked whether Adams Lake would consider having public input into future development of the reserve.

"It is important for citizens to have their voices heard by their respective representatives," said Kenoras. "The band currently takes into consideration a variety of stakeholder interests, but would not want to implement a procedure that would become too difficult to manage."