gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

opening the band built 26 new homes with 10 more foundations in place, and it was expected
that the wait list would dissolve within 5 years. Costs per 1,200-square-foot unit were between
$250,000-$300,000, with Indian and Northern Affairs Canada providing $50,000 per unit under
a federal housing grant program, capped at $7.5 million. Prior to the casino opening, there
were 1,500 members in fewer than 250 homes (Komarnicki, 2007). Contractors on the project
are hiring almost exclusively band members as trades people.
Gambling revenues fund reserve road paving programs, to enhance Tsuu T’ina language
programs, and to finance university educations. In April 2009, Tsuu T’ina officials announced
that impressive returns would lead to casino floor expansion and a hotel and entertainment
complex within two years (CBC News, 2009). The Tsuu T’ina council has approved construction
of a new 16,000 square foot building to house the tribal police force. According to
Manywounds, “We’ll help you start a business, we’ll give you career options, we’ll have a job
for every person on reserve but if you’re expecting to sit on your couch and collect thousands
of dollars a month it’s not gonna happen.” The Grey Eagle Casino’s success did however impact
local non-Native charities. APTN reported one case in which two-day charity casino in the first
quarter of 2007 raised just over $94,000. During the same quarter for 2008 that same 2-day
casino brought in just over $77,000.
Tsuu T’ina has arguably benefitted the most from the FNDF and its associated charity. Since
opening the casino, 84 grants have been made to fund local projects, a total of $65,738,888,
ranging from providing band housing to improving the community recreation centre to
repairing elevators in various buildings. Additional police officers have been hired, school trips
paid for, various administrative departments funded outright, and roadways upgraded.
According to community spokesperson Peter Manywounds, “Every single Tsuu T’ina person
who’s qualified to go to post-secondary education at whatever institution is gonna go because
of the amount of revenue. Last year we had 85 qualified applicants who couldn’t go because
there was no money. What a change in one year.” In early 2009, the band spent nearly $2
million in casino-derived cash on post-secondary and reserve education. For the latter, several
hundred thousand was used to purchase weight lifting equipment, pay teachers' assistants,
build a computer lab and offer expanded trades and extra-curricular programs (CBC News,
2009). In January 2010, the Tsuu T'ina Nation unveiled a new $4 million community fire
department, funded largely from Grey Eagle Casino gambling revenues.
Established after the City of Calgary indicated that it could not guarantee fire protection
services for the new casino, 20 firefighters (10 are from Tsuu T’ina) boasting new equipment
including an aerial apparatus, a pumper truck, water tanker and a grass fire truck were
expected to drastically reduce local response times, in certain cases by as much as 75%.
Anticipating one day that all the firefighters would be from Tsuu T’ina, Chief Sandford Big
Plume added, “Tsuu T'ina is one of the few First Nations in Canada to have stand-alone police
and fire service—something the nation should be proud of” (Komarnicki, 2010).
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