Pickering gaming hall breached casino limit deal with province: Scugog Island First Nation
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The Ontario government has breached an agreement that limited the number of gaming halls in Durham, leading to Monday’s opening of a “mega-casino” in Pickering, says the Scugog Island First Nation.
With the Pickering Casino Resort opening its doors to gambling enthusiasts on July 26, the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation continued to voice their opposition to the rival gaming den that same day by claiming the province permitted the new casino to “operate in close proximity” to the Great Blue Heron Casino “in spite of previous agreements which limited the number of gaming facilities in Durham Region.”
The Scugog Island gambling hall first opened in early 1997 and operated a hybrid charity facility with the OLG -- the Scugog First Nation conducted and managed the gaming tables while the government agency oversaw the slot machines. In 2016, the Scugog Island First Nation entered into an agreement with the province that would see the casino converted to a commercial establishment and the MSIFN receive a share of the revenues.
The Scugog First Nation still owns the building and lands it sits on, but leases the property.
A year later, in 2017, the province announced that the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, based in British Columbia, and Brookfield Business Partners from Toronto were chosen to operate and redevelop the Great Blue Heron casino, Ajax Downs race track and Woodbine in Toronto in a deal that gave the consortium the rights to the casinos for 22 years.
During discussions leading up to that agreement, amidst the province’s new modernization strategy for gambling facilities in Ontario, the MSIFN initially balked at the changes, fearing additional casinos would saturate the market and “cannibalize” local revenues.
When that 2017 announcement was made, MSIFN chief Kelly LaRocca expressed concerns that “cannibalization” remains on the minds of the Scugog Island First Nation if there were to be redevelopment and expansion of a new gambling facility in either Ajax or Pickering, as well as the introduction of a massive new casino centre at Woodbine.
“It has been an ongoing concern ... we’ve always been vigilant on that issue,” said Chief LaRocca at the time. “We hope it’s not as detrimental as anticipated.”
While those deals were signed under the former Liberal provincial government, the MSIFN claimed in its July 26 that Conservative Premier Doug Ford trampled on those agreements after sweeping to power in June 2018.
“Without any manner of notice to MSIFN, the Ford government passed regulations to allow the Pickering Casino Resort to operate in breach of the government’s commitments with MSIFN to not operate any new casino in the GTA within close proximity (to) MSIFN’s Great Blue Heron Casino,” said the statement.
The two casinos are located about 50 kilometres apart.
Added LaRocca: “The Pickering casino’s opening is yet another glaring example of Premier Ford’s willingness to tread over signed agreements for political ends. This government has rewritten the Ontario gaming map to suit its own agenda.”
The MSIFN chief added that the “Pickering mega-casino project would not have been possible without the use of special regulatory orders from the province. The Ford government should respect and honour its signed agreements with Indigenous peoples.”
