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This article was published 5/3/2015 (2024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Tuxedo residents want to know how First Nations will turn the former Kapyong Barracks into an urban reserve and they turned out in force to voice concerns at a panel discussion with aboriginal leaders at the Canadian Mennonite University Thursday evening.

More than 300 people packed the Marpeck Commons on Grant Avenue, raising questions over property values, crime rates and whether their affluent neighbourhood would start to look like crumbling inner city ‘hoods once First Nations moved in.

"What happens to our property values if this thing goes bust? If this is going to be an Indian reserve, are there going to be building codes? Garbage service? Fire services?" asked one resident who gave his name as Jack.

Those questions were typical of responses from the floor of the event dubbed On Being Good Neighbours. Co-moderated by CMU assistant communications professor David Balzer, the panel featured three main speakers.

The Kapyong property has been tied up in court for the better part of the last decade.

Vacant since the military moved out in 2004, the 64.7 hectare parcel is centrally located in one of the city’s most affluent areas on Kenaston Boulevard and Grant Avenue. Despite its prime real estate value, worth millions of dollars — $8.5 million according to one outdated value Ottawa put on the parcel nearly a decade ago — development has been on hold as the federal government and First Nations battle over who has control of the land in court.

Both Ottawa and the First Nations in southern Manitoba want to be involved in developing the property. The city wants discussions with both sides on plans to use some of the land to widen Kenaston Boulevard, discussions First Nations are willing to open, Peguis Chief Glenn Hudson told the crowd.

Everyone is waiting for the court battle to end, Hudson said.

The next ruling, the fourth so far, will come from the Federal Court of Appeal and it will probably not be the last one. Appeals could take the case further, ending up in the Supreme Court of Canada in the next few years.

At every level of court with one exception, judges have ruled in favour of First Nations. Peguis and a number of other First Nations under Treaty One claim they owed both the duty to consult and lands promised under a treaty signed nearly 140 years ago that were never fulfilled.

On top of that, they say, a 1997 federal agreement reinforced those obligations, specifically giving Treaty One First Nations here the right of first refusal of surplus federal lands, such as Kapyong. Ottawa has held to its counter arguments it is only required to consult with First Nations.

That left speakers offering reassurances Thursday development would be seamless, just like any other, but they could not offer specific plans.

That left people frustrated. One resident, a woman who gave her name as Linda, said, "I have deep roots here, I’ve lived here since 1980... I’m delighted we might have an urban reserve in this neighbourhood. But if you want us to go along with you on this ride, you have to tell us what you’re going to do."

Hudson cited general plans for a mix of residential and commercial development with green space, an outline that was not new. Specifics will have to wait until there’s a strong relationship with the neighbourhood, he said. "it involves consultation, obviously," Hudson said in an interview before the panel took the stage.

Brainstorming and opening up avenues of communication are underway, treaty relations commissioner James Wilson said, adding a meeting Monday with business and city officials on Kapyong served as a "think tank" on what an urban reserve might look like.

"Once First Nations come together with a single voice and that voice can say here’s our concept," people are going to rally behind it," Wilson said.

The third speaker, Leah Gazan, president of the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg and a faculty member of the University of Winnipeg tried to lighten the tension in the room by saying her parents rented an apartment on Swindon Way, off Grant Avenue, and never had a problem with their neighbours over property values. She is Lakota, she told the crowd.

"We have got to figure out how to live together," she said.

What would you like to see done with Kapyong Barracks? Join the conversation in the comments below.