Urban reserve on hold: Sioux lookout wait on feds for study money.

• Author: Ross, Ian
• Position: NEWS

It will likely be another year before Sioux Lookout and some area First Nations can explore the creation of an urban reserve in northwestern Ontario.

Plans to proceed with a $200,000 feasibility study are stuck in neutral as it's been a slow process to get all the funding in place.

The municipality and the area chiefs were to coordinate the study which was to be completed by the end of March.

Sioux Lookout economic development officer Florence Bailey said the municipality is waiting on funding approval from Fed Nor and Indian and Northern Affairs to study how an urban reserve can work as a development tool.

Last September, the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund offered up $63,000 for the project, but that money can't be accessed until the other funders make their announcements.

An urban reserve is federally-designated land within a municipality where First Nations can establish businesses; along with employment and training opportunities.

The project partners are looking for new development opportunities with a nearby sawmill in mothballs and little happening locally on the mineral exploration scene. The town, however, is a service hub for many fly-in First Nation communities and has one of Ontario's busiest airports when it comes to takeoffs and landings.

Urban reserves were a big topic of discussion at an economic development held in the community last November.

Bailey said the two-day event, attended by 110 people, produced a "wealth of information" on the questions that would need to be answered by a consultant.

"It's a controversial initiative and no one has come out and said they don't want it," said Bailey "but out of our economic development summit we have a better understanding of the type of information that people are looking for."

There is concern in the business community that creating an urban reserve creates unfair competition.

Some First Nations fear that establishing a reserve in Sioux Lookout will draw young people out of the remote communities and into jobs in town.

Urban reserves have been established in Western Canada in places like Prince Albert, Sask. as a means of resolving outstanding Aboriginal land claims. That city has a Wal-Mart and a bank on its urban reserve. Often the First Nation will lease land to a business or franchisee.

In January, a...