A bad taste is all that remains of what was supposed to be a ground-breaking joint venture between a Saskatchewan Indian band and an Alberta hog barn promoter.
“I think it’s just really unfortunate that the political situation in the aboriginal community hijacked the business opportunity,” said Bob Coulter, speaking for Synergetik Special Projects.
Synergetik is affiliated with Pure Lean Inc., an Alberta company that owns a 5,000-hog operation in Bow Island, Alta., and one twice that size in Oyen, Alta.
Coulter’s company wanted to build a Pure Lean barn on a Saskatchewan Indian reserve. It spent two years hashing out details of the project with Poundmaker Cree Nation’s chief and council and had a signed agreement with the band.
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But shortly after the partnership received federal government approval to proceed with the hog barn venture, the band’s rank and file caught wind of the project and raised a stink.
Band members didn’t like the stipulation that Treaty Land Entitlement land was to be used to guarantee a $3.5 million loan with Farm Credit Canada.
Dissidents organized a meeting in Cut Knife, Sask., in October where Synergetik officials outlined the details of what they said would be an odourless and environmentally friendly hog barn.
But it was clear from audience reaction that many minds had already been made up. Band members did not want to risk losing treaty land for a hog barn development.
A short time after the meeting the band’s chief and council sent a letter to Synergetik stating that Poundmaker was backing out of the project.
“This wasn’t about the project so much as it was about a non-confidence movement against the existing chief and council,” said Coulter, adding that band elections are coming up in May.
He said that’s a shame because the project could have provided employment on the reserve.
Tyrone Tootoosis, an organizer of the Cut Knife meeting, said that is a load of “pig poop.”
“It had nothing to do with the upcoming election. That wasn’t even on the horizon.”
People objected to the project because it flew in the face of what they had been told by their elders, that they are “borrowing the land from the unborn” and have an obligation to protect it for future generations.
“No matter how many people are employed, the long-lasting repercussions to both the health of the people and the land do not justify such an initiative,” said Tootoosis.
He said many members who were frightened by the prospect of the barn feel like their prayers have been answered.
“I am very happy to hear that the chief and council have backed off on this. It’s the wisest decision to date on the pig barn.”
But he is bitter the failed deal could cost the band hundreds of thousands of dollars, which Synergetik claims it is owed.
He feels the chief and council should bear that burden because they never got a mandate from the membership to build a hog barn in the first place.
Poundmaker councillor Colin Fabel said the band doesn’t owe the hog company one cent because the deal was contingent upon the project getting the approval of the people.
“In (Synergetik’s) minds they think we may owe them money, but in our minds nothing was approved, so there was no deal.”
He said it probably wouldn’t have passed an environmental audit anyway because the proposed site is too close to homes and cabins.
Tootoosis wonders how the project got as far as it did. He blames Synergetik and the band for a lack of public consultation.
Coulter said his company tried to set up public information sessions on numerous occasions but those attempts were thwarted by the chief and council who assured Synergetik officials that band members were “informed and on-side” with the project.
Fabel said it was not Synergetik’s place to consult with the members. Instead, the chief and council held about six band meetings and people who attended those knew all about the project.
Coulter said Synergetik will seek to locate the barn somewhere else in the province this spring once the Poundmaker affair has been settled.
He remains frustrated.
“It has really undermined the credibility of aboriginal groups in Saskatchewan in general,” he said.
Fabel resents the insinuation that Indian bands can’t form good working partnerships with industry.
“We have some successful deals going on with some oil companies, so that’s not true.”
