STC casino gets green light from province

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It's taken three years and a change of venue, but the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) can finally go ahead with its plans to build a casino.

Whitecap Dakota First Nation, located 25 kilometeres south of Saskatoon, will be home to the new casino, which received approval from the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority on Aug. 6. Once completed, it will be the fifth casino in the province operated by the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority (SIGA). The casino will be built by the STC on land leased from Whitecap, and SIGA will in turn rent the casino space from the STC.

The tribal council had originally hoped to establish a casino in downtown Saskatoon, a plan that had already been approved by Saskatoon city council and that had the support of much of the city's business community. But those plans were quashed through the efforts of the anti-gambling lobby, which collected signatures on a petition and successfully fought to have the decision as to whether a new casino should be built in the city decided by the people. A question about the casino was included on the ballot during the municipal election held last fall, and the casino proposal was defeated by a narrow margin.

Even before the question was put to a vote, however, the tribal council had revised its plans, deciding in July 2003 to instead apply for approval for a casino on Whitecap. Despite that decision, the casino question remained on the ballot, and Saskatoon voters had their say.

"Because the plebiscite, they had the right number of signatures for it, the city council would not remove it from the ballot," said STC Tribal Chief Glenn Johnstone in explaining why the Saskatoon proposal was voted on when the decision to move the casino had already been made.

"And that posed a very interesting predicament for us."

By that time, city council had also approved the Whitecap proposal, Johnstone said. "So now we were sitting there with two sites approved by city council, and one possibly would be passed by the referendum. It really put us in an interesting position."

Johnstone believes that, had the tribal council not changed its plans, the vote would have swung in favour of a Saskatoon casino. The vote was quite close, despite the fact that the STC stopped its information campaign when it picked its new site in July.

"I really believed that it was picking up steam, and I told the chiefs that. I said, 'I really believe we can win, but I'm not prepared to take that risk,'" Johnstone said. Time was of the essence for the STC-after receiving approval from the city, the tribal council only had three years in which to make its casino plans a reality. After that, the right to build a casino in the Saskatoon area would be offered up to other interested parties.

The soon-to-be built casino, which should be up and running within two years, is the second phase of a resort being planned for Whitecap. The first phase of the development is the Dakota Dunes Golf and Country Club, developed by Whitecap Dakota First Nation in partnership with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and the Lac La Ronge Indian band, which opened for business in the spring. The third phase of the development will be a hotel and convention centre.

While some people believe locating casinos on reserves can lead to social problems, Johnstone doesn't believe that's the case.

"I think the whole idea ... is overblown, because everything is there already. So having another casino does not mean that suddenly people are going to be flooding out there. They're already gambling, the ones that want to gamble are already gambling. So that argument doesn't really sit well with me," he said.

Tom Semaganis, director of public relations for SIGA, doesn't see any disadvantages to locating the casino on Whitecap rather than in Saskatoon, but he does see a number of advantages to the move, not the least of which is having the casino as part of the larger resort development.

"So it's part of package, a whole complete package there. The casino just builds on that," he said.

A number of jobs will be created during the construction phase, and once the casino is up and running, up to 550 full-time and part-time jobs will be created, Semaganis said.

"That's not including all the people that will be employed in the rest of the resort facility. In the golf course-there's already quite a few people working there. The hotel side, there will be quite a few people employed. So the whole resort area itself will employ in the hundreds and hundreds of people."

Very few people on Whitecap are unemployed, so it will be the surrounding communities that benefit the most from the new employment opportunities, Semaganis said. "They will also benefit from an anticipated increase in tourism in the area.

"That's what the main goal is, it's going to be a huge tourism attraction. It'll draw probably more tourists than anything else in the province of Saskatchewan," Tom Semaganis said.

Another advantage of the new casino location, Glenn Johnstone said, is that the economic spin-offs from the development, which would have been enjoyed by downtown businesses if the Saskatoon proposal had gone ahead, will now be reaped by Whitecap and the STC. Local communities will also benefit by planned improvements to area highways, and improved transportation systems between Saskatoon and Whitecap.

The benefits of the new casino will expand even further, Semaganis said, with the province, the First Nations and the local community development corporation (CDC) each getting a share of the casino's profits.

"The profits are split-37.5 per cent goes to the province, 37.5 per cent goes to the First Nations and 25 per cent goes to the local community development corporation," Semaganis said.

"The other benefit, of course, is pride in themselves as a people for having accomplished this and being able to have a revenue generator which is going to stimulate their economy," Johstone said.

Whitecap is one of the seven members of the STC. Other member First Nations include the Kinistin Saulteaux Nation, Mistawasis First Nation, Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, Muskoday First Nation, One Arrow First Nation, and Yellow Quill First Nation.