Water management a key to Blood economy

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Blood Chief Roy Fox says his tribe has had a long, tough battle to get an on-reserve irrigation project underway, but it will pay off.

"Water and land have been a sacred trust to our people since time began. The creator has given these resources to us and we are responsible to endure we look after them and use

them to the best advantage. In modern times we may have lost sight of that sacred relationship," he said in an address at the Indian economic development conference held in

Edmonton last week.

"We have been shown in recent years how important, water is and that if we don't look after the land we have been given, severe wind damage can occur," he said.

While water is valued by everyone not all are as fortunate as the Blood tribe, he said. "We are indeed in an enviable position."

Agriculture is a cultural tradition of the Blood tribe, said Fox, and the band is willing to use its land resources for the benefit of its members.

"Throughout this century the Blood tribe has made a significant contribution to the development of irrigation in Alberta," says the Treaty 7 Chief.

"As a result of the Blood tribe's longstanding cooperation and contribution to irrigation in Alberta and Canada, over a half a million acres of land can now be irrigated with water

flowing from the Waterton and St. Mary's system," he said.

Fox said the band contributed 7,500 acres of the land so the 500,000-acre project could go ahead.

He complained that the federal, provincial and band governments sometimes get too involved in specific details, losing sight of their goals.

Fox noted the Blood irrigation project took 11 years of work to get off the ground, dating back to Nov. 1978 when the band presented briefs to the Environmental Council of Alberta

on water management of the Oldman River basin.

The council urged the federal and provincial governments to support on-reserve irrigation development so the Bloods could improve agricultural production and economic conditions

on the reserve. But the governments were slow to respond.

It wasn't until two years later that the tribal council met with provincial cabinet ministers, leading to the formation of a committee of federal, provincial and Blood tribe officials.

The committee studied whether it would be feasible to develop a large-scale irrigation project in the northeastern portion of the reserve.

Although it completed a report in 1983, which concluded the project was feasible, it wasn't until 1986 that further discussions took place.

In 1986 after the Bloods had waited eight years, the federal minister of Indian and Northern affairs gave the project the green light.

But obstacles still had to be cleared at the provincial level. In Aug. 1987 the Alberta government indicated it was ready to negotiate. Technical, financial and legal sub-committees

worked on the final recommendations for almost two years before an agreement was signed in February.

"The project would provide the opportunity for tribe members to remain on the reserve without undergoing the intended cultural disruptions resulting from off-reserve migrations," Fox

said.