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I am of the opinion that casino gambling on Indian Reservations in Saskatchewan does much to help First Nations people.

Our situation here is somewhat different from casinos that I have seen in the United States. The first "legal" "Indian" casinos in Saskatchewan were planned as a major First Nations business initiative for the province as a whole. Many different sites were considered as locations for the casinos, and business experts were consulted as to the benefits of several proposed sites. The final decisions were made by the "host Tribal Councils" - the business corporations that manage federal funds for and provide a variety of technical services to groups of First Nation Bands. The first casinos to open were the Gold Eagle Casino in North Battleford and the Northern Lights Casino in Prince Albert. Yorkton Tribal Council bought a building in downtown Yorkton and renovated it as the Painted Hand Casino, and White Bear First Nation built the Bear Claw Casino on their reserve.

Financing for all four projects was arranged by the Battlefords Tribal Council, host to the Gold Eagle Casino. Experienced trainers were brought in to prepare workers at one site after another, and when the casinos opened they were a tremendous success. A portion of casino profits went to the provincial government, a portion to the First Nations Trust to be distributed to Bands on a per capita basis, and a portion to the Community Development Corporation for each of the host communities. The latter portion was intended to make up for the reduced ability of charitable organizations in the host communities to raise money, since so much of the disposable income was being spent in the casinos. At this point each of the casinos was being managed by its host Tribal Council and provided steady jobs with good pay for many First Nations people who had never before had a full-time job. Casino employees bought new cars instead of used ones. Families moved off reserve and began buying houses in the city. Workers realized that they were capable of better things and left the employ of the casinos to go back to school and train for work that suited them better. Patrons, largely seniors from the neighboring province of Alberta, became regulars because they were treated so well by the First Nations employees who had grown up helping to care for elders. Both the Battlefords Tribal Council and the Prince Albert Grand Council built new, bigger casino buildings and developed entertainment centres alongside.

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