Crooked Lake leasing dispute reaches boiling point

A rent dispute spanning nearly a decade between Sakimay First Nation and the cottagers who rent their land came to a boiling point this spring.

Thirty-one lots were vacated after Sakimay First Nation threatened to terminate the lease if outstanding debts weren’t paid.

“The exodus has begun, and I expect the exodus will continue so long as this matter remains unresolved,” said Kevin Bell, legal counsel for the Sakimay Cottage Owners Association.

“It’s been tough, to watch people walk away, and throw thousands and thousands of dollars away too. The average house that’s coming down is between $50,000-$80,000 and they’re just hauling it away to a dump and burning it,” said Tom Cook, vice-president of the Shesheep Cottage Owners Association.

In 2009 Sakimay First Nation raised the price of land leases that cottage owners pay by 700 per cent.

Despite a judge deciding the raise was well above market value, Sakimay appealed, and raised the rent even higher in 2015.

“Generally the average lot would have seen their rent go from about $875 per annum, to about $5,500 per annum,” Bell explained.

Some tenants refused to pay the new price, wanting to wait for the appeal decision to be announced.

Sakimay gave them 30 days to pay up or get out.

“In December we sent a final notice to say you have 30 days to pay your arrears or your lease will be terminated,” Lynn Acoose, chief of Sakimay First Nation stated.

According to Bell, the majority of the 324 leaseholders complied.

For those who chose to stay – their future is uncertain.

“If the appeal decision isn’t satisfactory to us we may make the decision just not to renew a lot of those leases that come up for renewal,” Acoose admitted

“The rate of return on our lands is not worth having tenants there,” she continued.

For people like Tom Cook that would mean losing the home he’s spent nearly two decades in.

“I’m frustrated now, there’s lots of nights you don’t sleep real good, just thinking of that same thing, that you know this could happen. You know, we’ve got a lot of our retirement money tied up in this place too, as do a lot of other people around here,” Cook said.

“We do understand that people have made substantial investments in their cabins – some of them are year-round properties – there are tenants who really do value the lake, who are there because they appreciate the beauty. Those tenants we really do appreciate,” Acoose said.

A category Cook feels he’s a part of.

“If they come out with a reasonable – and by reasonable I think in the $3,000-$3,500 range – we would sign it immediately, and go on from there,” he said.

“All we’ve ever wanted is a fair solution. Fair to the Sakimay that they get a decent return on their money, and fair to the tenants that we don’t get railroaded,” Cook continued.

Of the roughly 300 leaseholders, 30 of them will have their leases expire at the end of the year. For them it’s not just a question of what rate will their lease be renewed at, but whether it will be renewed at all.

“We are going to have to reduce number of lots that are leased. We’re going to let some of the leases expire,” Acoose said.