A parcel of land in the Marquis Industrial area of Saskatoon is poised to become a new urban reserve.

The Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) owns the parcel located at 211 Wheeler Street, an urban holding. Once granted reserve status by the federal government, this will be the 10th urban reserve within Saskatoon’s boundaries.

On the parcel of land on Wheeler Street is the office for Canada North Environmental Services, a company owned by Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership, which is owned by the LLRIB. It’s an environmental consulting company that performs baseline environmental studies and environmental impact assessments in Saskatchewan and across Canada.

Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said the reason for establishing this urban reserve is to ensure LLRIB members studying science, technology, engineering and math at a post-secondary level have a “landing place” after completing their degrees.

“With Can North being on the reserve, Lac La Ronge band members will earn a competitive wage with (a) top-notch environmental consulting firm while experiencing the benefits of working on reserve,” she said.

“This will be our 10th urban reserve, making us have the highest number of any city in the country,” Mayor Charlie Clark told the police commission.

The LLRIB is also creating urban reserves in the Town of La Ronge and Village of Air Ronge, which will be used by Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership for business ventures including Kitsaki Vegetation Services.

“Once the hospital was relocated, we were able to get the land back and then we were able to convert it to reserve land,” Cook-Searson said.

Cook-Searson said establishing urban reserves allows Indigenous communities like LLRIB to leverage land assets for economic development, which could include commercial, industrial, residential, tourism, cultural or educational development. The lands being converted into urban reserves in Saskatoon, La Ronge and Air Ronge are occupied by Kitsaki’s ventures.

Cook-Searson said part of the reconciliation process is working with governments to revert lands into reserves, but these new urban reserves are not part of a Treaty Land Entitlement. The band has purchased these lands with its own-sourced funding.

“It is part of reconciliation when you’re doing things different and recognizing the importance of establishing relationships, and that’s what we continue to work on from our side too, as the Lac La Ronge Indian Band,” Cook-Searson said.

A signing ceremony with Cook-Searson, Clark and LLRIB council members is planned for Sept. 11.