Grainswest - Fall 2024

Fall 2024 grainswest.com 39 “A strength we have is the landbase,” she said. “A lot of it is still a natural state, particularly on the east side. We have 22 communal pastures to cater to stock owners, and what I see is developing a plan where we look at food security. That entails maybe taking some of this grazing land and putting it in a productive state.” In part because the Siksika landbase is large and its uses varied, Hester acknowledged it will take time to realize such ideas. A practical step toward doing so, she and her team have just completed a comprehensive land-use plan that covers residential development, capital infrastructure, resource development and cultural sacred sites. Of course, agriculture is a significant part of the mix, and the land-use plan addresses one of the biggest barriers to individual reserve farmers: land certainty. Treaty lands, such as Siksika, are held in trust by the federal government on behalf of the signatory nation. This means there is no private ownership on the reserve, and farmers have no significant collateral to use for loans that could be used to invest in equipment or infrastructure. “In Wheatland County or Newell County, at least they have land certainty,” she said. “They have a piece of paper that tells them, ‘This is our land, these are our assets — take it to the bank, use it as a collateral.’ Can they do that here? No, they can’t, because we don’t own the land here on the reserve.” There are two types of land-use transactions on the reserve, said Hester. Leases or permits are issued to third parties—i.e., non-community members—who then pay a royalty to the nation. Band members who wish to farm, on the other hand, rely on chief and council to give consent to use land for agricultural purposes. It’s an often-tenuous arrangement. “The system where [farming and ranching] is at the pleasure of council is not formalized, and it can get very political, depending on who the leader of the day is,” she said. “They can take back land.” She cited a 2018 legal dispute between former Blood (Kainai) Chief Harley Frank and another family. In that case, all but two of the 600 acres staked by the Frank family in the 1960s were transferred to the other family. “We’re going to have to address that,” said Hester. “It’s kind of like the elephant in the room. Do we want to formalize and get this land set up so we can provide some incentives for the future generation if they should get into agriculture or ranching?” To provide Siksika farmers with this needed certainty, she favours some type of formal land transaction such as a permit system. There are only two or three major independent operations on Siksika, said Hester. Another dozen or so families rely on a system called “buckshee,” an informal arrangement in which reserve members bring in third-party contractors to sow crops or graze. It’s a problem across the Prairies, she said, particularity in Alberta and Saskatchewan, but that she empathizes with those who resort to it. Having no means to fund their own operation coupled with a lack of support from the band, few options exist. BEYOND BUCKSHEE Ostensibly, the Alberta government has introduced initiatives to address the collateral conundrum, although these “ That’s why some don’t make it. They don’t have the collateral or what have you to even do one or two years of farming. They need cash upfront or some sort of loan to purchase equipment. ” — Hester Breaker