City of Saskatoon signs MOU with Muskeg Lake Cree Nation on downtown entertainment district

The City of Saskatoon has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation to enter negotiations on a potential deal surrounding the city’s planned Downtown Event and Entertainment District (DEED) project.

The project would include a new arena and a renovated TCU Place, along with potentially creating a new urban reserve.

Read more:

• Saskatoon City Council approves Muskeg Lake Cree Nation DEED negotiations
• Saskatoon council rejects proposed manager for downtown entertainment district
• SaskTel Centre, TCU Place set to merge by early 2027: City

Mayor Cynthia Block and Muskeg Lake Cree Nation Chief Kelly Wolfe signed the commitment to work together at TCU Place on Monday morning. The project, which was first announced in 2022, had been essentially on hold until the city was contacted by the Muskeg Lake government in April.

Wolfe said the DEED is a “generational wealth” project, and the First Nation wants to expand on its existing partnership with the city.

“We’re looking long term, and looking at the long-term development prosperity of all of our citizens, because we too have citizens here in the city, and we know that everyone will prosper for this,” the chief said.

“Both the nation and the City of Saskatoon are trying to create wealth for our cities, prosperity for the future, attract residents. Making sure we have tourism here, making sure we have good jobs here,” Block added.

At this point there are no firm timelines for any specific milestones ahead in the partnership, Wolfe noted.

An artist’s rendering of Saskatoon’s proposed Downtown Event and Entertainment District. (City of Saskatoon/Submitted)

Last week, Saskatoon city councilors unanimously voted to approve a team, led by Dan Willems, Saskatoon’s director of technical services, to enter into negotiations with the Cree nation in an effort to move the project forward.

During a presentation to council, Wolfe hinted at the potential creation of a new urban reserve in the city’s downtown core, which could translate into federal funding for the billion-dollar project.

“Having (an) urban reserve opens the doors to federal capital opportunities that we could apply for to reduce the costs any way we can,” Wolfe told council.

After Monday’s signing ceremony, Wolfe expanded on the federal economic opportunities that may be become available under the new partnership, including assistance from the First Nations Financial Authority, a lending partner which supports a variety of projects.

“Another example is the Canada Infrastructure Bank that’s willing to support nations with future capital projects, as well as there are procurement policies within the federal government that support First Nations’ capital ventures such like this, so we’re going to do our best to ensure that we capitalize on all of those,” the chief explained.

At this point however, there has been no commitment for any money towards at DEED from either the federal or provincial governments, but Saskatoon-Willowgrove MLA Ken Cheveldayoff said the signing on Monday means the province is showing that it’s open to a partnership as well.

Canada’s first commercial urban reserve was established by the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation in 1988. Currently, Saskatoon has eight urban reserves, along with three at various stages of the approval process and two in the early phases.

A representative from the federal government was expected to attend Monday’s ceremony, but no one arrived.

The Saskatoon Tribal Council supports the the negotiations, according to a letter written by Tribal Chief Mark Arcand, and also has support from the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce, Discover Saskatoon and the Downtown Riversdale Business Improvement District.

The city team has been directed by council to report back every two months on the progress of negotiations.

–with files from 650 CKOM’s Mia Holowaychuk