Enoch Cree Nation and City of Edmonton, AB

After five years of collaborating, the relationship was mainstreamed as the new way of doing business in both communities, as several departments and council members that were not involved in CEDI now collaborate directly. Even the two communities’ technical teams are learning to work together and collaborate on a variety of initiatives, including: development and co-management of a Provincial Park; boundary interface protocols and strategies (BIPS); establishing a transit connection between the two communities; shared fire services around their borders; urban reserve development; developing Edmonton’s Indigenous procurement strategy; supportive housing plans; and community education and awareness raising. The partnership leveraged $22.5 million in additional funding for their CED projects. 

1. The Woodbend- Big Island Park: Co-managed Provincial Park and Tourism Strategy.  

The Woodbend- Big Island Park presented an opportunity to co-manage a Provincial Park, situated within the City of Edmonton and recognized as meaningful traditional lands of the Enoch Cree Nation. To guide this work, the partners established a joint task team, leadership team, and executive team, with the task team meeting weekly to advance the project. Together, they co-developed a proposal for the park that included principles of co-governance, an intercultural approach that reflected both worldviews and served as an important learning experience for the partnership. The Government of Alberta committed $10 million to the initiative and began implementing it. In addition, the partnership undertook environmental and traditional land use studies, which strengthened collaboration between their respective technical teams and further deepened their working relationship. 

2. Sports and Recreation collaboration  

With sports facilities proposed for each community near Lewis Farms, Enoch Cree Nation and the City of Edmonton met to share plans and timelines to ensure coordinated regional planning and to maximize services for citizens on the reserve and in the city who lived in proximity to both facilities. 

3. Permanent Supportive Housing  

The partnership also explored joint supportive housing initiatives to address regional housing needs. Both communities worked to gather the necessary information and data to advance the project, including funding opportunities, land availability, and the specific needs of Enoch Cree Nation members. 

4. Transit Connection  

There was a strong need for a transit connection between the City of Edmonton and Enoch Cree Nation. In April 2018, a councillor for the City of  Edmonton brought forward a motion to city council to explore this opportunity and later met with Enoch Cree Nation’s Chief and Council to discuss potential collaborations, including the secondment of Enoch staff to the City’s Transit Department to build capacity for future joint work. An important outcome of these efforts was the invitation for Enoch Cree Nation to join the Edmonton Metropolitan Regional Board’s emerging Regional Transit Services Commission, which formalized Enoch Cree Nation’s role in regional transit planning and collaboration 

5. Boundary Interface Protocols Strategy (BIPS) 

The BIPS provides a clear and concise framework to guide future collaboration on land use and infrastructure, while shaping policies and processes that support coordinated development along the shared boundary of Enoch Cree Nation, the City of Edmonton, and Parkland County. The document has already positively influenced a road expansion on the northern reserve boundary. 

6. Fire Services 

Following their time in the CEDI program, the new Edmonton Fire Chief met several times with the Enoch Fire Chief, expressing interest in strengthening their relationship. The two departments began discussions on joint training and learning opportunities and developed a shared vision for a joint fire hall on the southeast corner of the Enoch reserve, designed to serve both Enoch and the adjacent areas of Edmonton and Parkland County. This collaboration emerged as a clear example of the mainstreaming of partnership between the communities. 

7. Urban Reserve Development  

Edmonton City Council received a motion to develop an Urban Reserves strategy to ensure the City was prepared with a clear process to respond to First Nations undertaking an Addition-to-Reserve (ATR) process. To advance this work, Edmonton established a steering committee with representatives from Enoch Cree Nation, the Confederacy of Treaty 6, federal and provincial governments, and various city departments. With this strategy in place, Enoch submitted an urban reserve application to the City and pursued it under the new framework.  

8. Indigenous Procurement 

Edmonton had both a local and a sustainable procurement strategy and began creating an Indigenous procurement strategy to improve accessibility for Indigenous businesses. An Indigenous Procurement Advisory Committee, which included members from Enoch Cree Nation and private businesses, was active in this work and explored ways to incorporate Indigenous languages into tender reviews. 

9. Educational videos   

In November 2020, the partnership launched a three-part video series titled Past, Present, Future, which highlighted the communities’ histories, current relationships, and future commitments to work together. The videos were created as educational tools for elected officials and staff, while also serving to build greater awareness of the partnership within the broader community. These videos were financially supported by the CEDI capacity building grant.