FSIN gets $2 million cash injection
- Fraser Needham | June 02, 2015
A financially struggling Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations will soon receive a $2 million cash injection of new money.
The FSIN has been struggling to make ends meet over the last few years as the result of a $2 million in funding cuts from the Harper government.
Staff has had to be laid off and services pared down.
However, at the organization’s spring assembly on May 27 chiefs voted in favour of transferring $1.95 million from the First Nations Trust Fund to the FSIN.
The money comes from revenue generated by 250 additional gaming machines.
It will allow the FSIN to retain its current executive structure and keep remaining staff in place.
Vice-Chief Heather Bear says the new money will allow the organization to maintain its day-to-day operations and fulfill its mandate.
“We’ve had years of cutbacks and it kind of got us off course,” she says. “But really there’s four areas: communications – taking control of our messaging, legal strategy, policy analysts and business analysts.”
Also, after many years of trying, it appears the Little Pine First Nation’s dream of building a casino in Lloydminster may soon become a reality.
Little Pine has long believed there is a market for a casino in the city that borders both Saskatchewan and Alberta and previously tried to pursue development of the plan outside the jurisdiction of the Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority.
However, chiefs vetoed this plan at a number of FSIN assemblies.
Yet, at the 2015 spring assembly delegates voted in favour of Little Pine and the Onion Lake First Nation exploring a casino in the border city under the jurisdiction of SIGA.
Ten other First Nations are also involved in the casino and partners believe if all goes according to plan they could break ground on the $20 million project in the coming months and it could open its doors by next spring.
Nevertheless, Vice-Chief Bear is somewhat more cautious.
“We’re looking forward to looking at the market,” she says.
If approved, the Lloydminster casino will include a 250-room hotel and 1,500-seat convention centre.
First Nations veterans may also have the opportunity to vote in FSIN elections down the road.
Chiefs voted in favour of drafting legislation that would enable veterans to participate in elections.
Bear says the idea has been around for a while and would be one way of honouring the tremendous contribution veterans have made on behalf of all First Nations citizens.
“When it comes to the veterans, they are the ones who gave up their souls for the people – our first defenders. When they say symbolic, I think it has more meaning to me as far as elevating their presence.”
The new legislation will not be voted on until the spring 2016 assembly so it won’t affect elections this coming October.
Other resolutions passed include moving the Saskatoon Tribal Council’s Treaty Rights Protection Fund from the FSIN to direct control under the tribal council.
Patricia Thompson, Clarence Lavallee and Alphonse Bird were also appointed to the Saskatchewan Gaming Corporation’s board of directors and Sheila Sutherland as chairperson of the First Nations Trust Fund.
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