History and stories: a casino, a road and a Nation's own name

Timeline

Who built it, and on whose land

The Tsuutʼina Nation's reserve lies directly west of Calgary, its eastern edge against the city's south-west limits. The Nation is Athabaskan by language, connected to the Dene, and was long known to outsiders by the Blackfoot name Sarcee. The resort's own home page gives the Elders' reading of the name Tsuutʼina: "many people" or "beaver people". The resort is owned and operated by the Nation; the footer of its website names Tsuu Tʼina Hospitality Ltd.

We could not find a published name for the architect or the main contractor. A construction firm lists the casino expansion in its portfolio without saying what it did, so we leave the line blank rather than guess.

Story one: the gate on 37 Street

When the casino opened, the only way in was from 37 Street SW in the Lakeview neighbourhood, at a Glenmore Trail intersection the City already considered overloaded. The City's line was that this entrance was temporary and that the long-term answer was a ring road across Nation land. The Nation's line was that the casino and the road were separate questions and that its access was guaranteed.

It came to a head in 2009, when the City began rebuilding the Glenmore Trail and 37 Street interchange and reports suggested the casino entrance would close. The Nation wrote to the City that interfering with its right to enter and leave its lands would breach Treaty 7. The local historian who documented the episode notes that the treaty text itself says nothing either way. The ending was an anticlimax: the new interchange improved access, and the gate stayed open. Look at the map today and the resort still sits just off that corner.

Story two: the road that went through on the second vote

The south-west leg of Calgary's ring road was planned across Tsuutʼina land to avoid sensitive areas on the city side. In 2009 Nation members voted against transferring the land; in 2013 a second referendum approved it. The stretch across the reserve is named Tsuutʼina Trail. Wikipedia's account also records the cost: some residents were moved, and construction disturbed 22 hectares of wetlands. For a hotel guest the result is simple, a freeway on the doorstep; for the Nation it was a hard decision taken twice.

Story three: a casino, then a resort

The 2012 expansion announcement described a 4.5-star, 178-room hotel and a 2,000-seat entertainment centre. The hotel opened in 2014 with 178 rooms, as planned; the hall grew in the telling and the resort now gives its capacity as 2,511 seated or 2,952 standing. The press conference for the expansion doubled as a progress report on the ring-road talks, which tells you how closely the two projects were tied.

About legends

We went looking for the usual casino folklore and came back empty-handed: no documented ghost stories, no famous winning streak, no lucky table with a plaque. Rather than invent one, we will leave this paragraph as a placeholder for the day a source turns up. The resort does run guided cultural tours with Tsuutʼina storytelling, and that is the place to hear the stories that belong to the land rather than to the building.