Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, October 01, 2008Two years after asbestos concerns triggered an exodus from Black Bear Crossing, Tsuu T'ina band officials say it's time to say a last goodbye to the dilapidated housing.
The complex on the northeast corner of the reserve has been green-lighted for demolition, according to special projects manager Peter Manywounds.
A cluster of residents who straggled back to the units since the October 2006 evacuation has until today to pack their bags.
Regina Noel, 69, refuses to leave her home at Black Bear Crossing. The units are scheduled to be bulldozed.
But a handful of Black Bear dwellers, including 69-year-old Regina Noel, say they won't be bulldozed from their homes.
For years the reserve has been gripped by a housing crisis.
And Noel says she has nowhere else to go. "I'm going to stick it out," she said.
Though Noel was born Tsuu T'ina, she says she lost her band membership and housing rights when she married a Sioux man.
"This is the home I've made. I don't want to move off the reserve," said Noel, who is locked in a legal battle with the band over a previous eviction notice served to several non-nation residents.
At least two other Black Bear Crossing residents told the Herald they won't leave their homes.
A band spokesman refused to comment on what would happen if residents dug in their heels, calling that situation "hypothetical."
On Tuesday, Manywounds said all Black Bear residents are aware of the deadline.
"Residents have been notified that the timeline is today or tomorrow at latest for those remaining residents to vacate Black Bear Crossing," Manywounds said in a statement.
The band is putting up nation members in a variety of locations in Calgary and on the reserve, he said. About 25 new homes on the reserve have been built this year, with another 25 under construction.
Black Bear Crossing has been a sore spot for the Tsuu T'ina for the better part of a decade.
Band members and others who had nowhere to live crowded into the units after the Department of National Defence transferred the complex to the Tsuu T'ina.
The military, which closed CFB Calgary in 1998, built the units to serve as private married quarters.
After the transfer, some residents didn't take good care of their suites, and rowdy parties were not uncommon.
In 2006, Health Canada said some of the units were unsafe due to asbestos contamination. The band ordered everyone out, kicking off a political scramble to house unsheltered residents.
The tab hit $5.1-million in emergency and transitional housing, paid for by the federal government.
That deal expired in June, and the band has been picking up the cost of rent for displaced members.
Now, many of the vacant Black Bear homes are boarded up.
Several residents were boxing up their belongings on Tuesday.
"I'm pretty shocked and upset," said one woman, who asked that her name not be published.
She planned to move to a Calgary apartment, paid for by the band, but was crushed to move off the reserve.
"I'm going through the grieving process," she said.
Figuring out who will pay for the Black Bear demolition -- a sensitive task complicated by the asbestos -- has been a political hot potato between federal and band authorities.
Last year, band officials tacked an $18-million price tag on decommissioning the units.
According to a Sept. 3 letter band officials sent to Black Bear Crossing residents, the federal government has secured funding for the decommissioning.
Calls to Indian and Northern Affairs Canada weren't returned on Tuesday.
Manywounds said Tsuu T'ina officials are working "internally and with the federal government" to tear down Black Bear Crossing.
Non-nation members are being channelled toward city, provincial or federal agencies to find housing.
There are several steps before the decommissioning process could go ahead, including putting the project to tender.
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