gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

(Indian Act, 1985). The latter could be the result of a band council resolution becoming a bylaw
restricting researcher community access; or at the very least compelling them to obtain a
license before entering the community.
The second effective strategy has been for First Nations and their partnered casino operators to
cite proprietary interest as a shield to immunize them against forced disclosure of certain data.
If these data are released, it is argued, casino operations could be severely undermined thereby
jeopardizing the operator’s ability to effectively maintain casino profitability, thus hurting the
host First Nation community’s economic growth and socio-economic stability. All of the First
Nations contacted for this project have either formally or informally informed us that we would
not be privy to any information other than public records indicating slot machine revenues.
Accordingly, table games data is unavailable at this point. First Nations managing casinos with
hotels have also refused to disclose important data such as number of employees, for example,
which would help with our analyses of the overall regional and provincial impact of the casino.
Fears of Funding Cuts
This topic is to date the most cited reason for denying research access to Alberta First Nations
communities. Specifically, community leaders and the general membership are concerned that
their success as casino managers and revenue generators will be held against them through
federal funding cuts. Ironically, First Nations leaders looked to gambling to offset devastating
economic trends by establishing local control over economic development.
As discussed earlier, First Nations receive annual federal allotments from Indian and Northern
Affairs Canada (INAC). A formula-based model structured to provide more equitable support
between communities, consideration is given to a range of components including: support for
First Nation Council costs (based on the registered membership); basic overhead; unit costs for
major services; location costs; audit and professional fees; and service employee office costs. It
further takes into account the population, geographic location and the programming
responsibilities of individual First Nation governments. All funds must flow to the First Nation
Council, which in turn determines and manages community specific arrangements.
This program is intended to provide a reasonable contribution to the costs of governance, with
a specific focus on the costs associated with the administration of departmentally funded
programs and services. As Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) officials will state,
however, “This support does not accommodate all circumstances and there is an assumption
that citizens will also contribute to their costs of community governance” (Canada, 2009; also
Prince & Abele, 2005). Additional funding is found in the form of various federal programs with
assigned responsibilities for Aboriginal peoples. Contributions to band financial operations is
provided by but not restricted to Health Canada, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing
Corporation (CMHC), Canadian Heritage, the Privy Council Office.
Gambling revenues are considered supplemental funding needed for First Nations to compete
socially, politically and economically. Many project participants identified a fear among
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