Gas station is city’s first urban-reserve business

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This article was published 23/02/2015 (3347 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg now has its first gas station on an urban reserve.

Long Plain First Nation celebrated the grand opening of the Petro-Canada gas station and convenience store at 490 Madison St. — the first retail outlet of its kind inside city limits — with speeches, an honour song and an Ojibway prayer Monday.

The urban-reserve status means aboriginal people with treaty status can buy items such as tobacco products and gas exempt from provincial sales tax.

First Nation chiefs and officials from the city, provincial and federal governments braved a stiff wind with about 100 people, including high school students from the First Nation bused in for the event.

“It’s a beautiful morning for Long Plain First Nation,” said Chief Dennis Meeches, who thanked the many chiefs and dignitaries by name.

The gas station is located one block west of Polo Park Shopping Centre. It shares the location with Yellowquill College at 480 Madison, which is the other part of Long Plain’s urban reserve in Winnipeg.

It took years of negotiations with Ottawa to convert the property to reserve status. Long Plain also had to sign a municipal services agreement with the city in which fees are paid in lieu of taxes.

“We went hard on this because we knew it represented a source for economic sustainability for Long Plain… We have an aggressive urban-reserve strategy because we believe that will give us a strong revenue stream,” Meeches said.

Long Plain owns two other gas stations — one on the First Nation 90 kilometres west of Winnipeg and another in Portage la Prairie. Combined, the two locations brought in tobacco revenues of $1.2 million last year, the chief said. Based on that, business in tobacco sales in Winnipeg should bring in a minimum of $500,000 a year.

“This is an exciting day for the community of Long Plain First Nation,” said Norway House Chief Ron Evans. Evans was the Manitoba grand chief who worked with Long Plain to negotiate the reserve’s deal for municipal services.

“The Madison Street location is of particular importance. It will attract a lot of business and establish a First Nations presence within city limits,” Evans said.

Manitoba Treaty Relations Commissioner James Wilson said people only need to look at Saskatchewan to see the successful integration of more than 50 urban reserves, which he called economic development zones.

“If you go to Saskatchewan, you will never find a mayor or a reeve who complains, ‘Oh, we shouldn’t have partnered with First Nations.’ They’re saying, ‘This has been hugely beneficial. It’s created wealth.’ They’ve gotten jobs out of it, revenue. On both sides. It’s nothing but positive,” Wilson said.

Long Plain bought the site in 2005 from Manitoba Hydro. An office building was refurbished for Yellowquill College.

Long Plain partnered with Petro-Canada, which has 20 other urban-reserve partnerships in Western Canada.

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca