Peigan chief confident of winning court case

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Peigan Chief Leonard Basstien is confident his band will win its legal fight to jurisdiction over the waters of the Oldman River which runs through his reserve.

"Our leading spiritual advisers indicate the final decision will be in our favor," the southern Alberta chief said in an interview in Edmonton Sept. 27.

In a landmark Canadian water rights case, the southern Alberta band has laid claim to the river and its water. American Indian tribes have won similar court cases.

"If the dam is up and ready by the time a decision is made, we can put a stop to it," he warned.

"The Peigan treaty (signed in 1877) specifically indicates our Aboriginal lands included the Oldman River and the source of the Oldman River," said Bastien.

Treaty 7 gives the band all the water and the river bed, he insisted.

The band had hoped to get a speedy hearing on its claim to the water and had asked the courts to first settle the question of the band's rights under Treaty 7 and later to decide

how much water the band is entitled to.

But that request was turned down Sept. 20 by Madame Justice Carole Conrad of the Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary.

In her ruling, she said the band will only get one chance to contest the case. A single trial date has yet to be set.

The decision means a lengthier and more costly legal battle, said band lawyer Louise Mandell.

Bastein agreed. "It's a financial matter now. The province has unlimited financial resources and we have limited financial resources. The longer it drags on, the more costly it is.

"Hopefully with a court ruling in our favor, there could be a recovery of costs," he said.

Mandell predicted the court is likely to guarantee the band a "certain amount of water from the dam, which will be theirs to use or sell or do whatever they want with."

If the court rules in the band's favor, the decision could be costly for the province, which is building a $350-million dam on the Oldman, it claims is needed to irrigate arid land in

southern Alberta.

"We may negotiate with the province (on a price for the water) or just say we don't want the dam in," said Bastien. "Those are the major decisions, which have to be faced."

Whether an injunction is sought to stop the dam or its operation, if it's completed before a legal decision is handed down are matters that have to be weighted by the band

membership and council, said Bastien.

"We would have to look at what is our most favorable position for the future," he said.