Siksika expresses highway traffic concerns

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Siksika Nation is calling on the provincial government to make one of the major highways passing through its lands safer, after numerous traffic accidents – some fatal – along the road.

Siksika Chief and Council have sent a letter to Ric McIver, Alberta’s transportation minister, expressing a need to address traffic concerns along Highway 901, of which 23 kilometres (km) passes through Siksika Nation, including next to several residential areas.

On Jan. 5, a Siksika Nation resident was struck and killed by a semi-trailer while walking a portion of the highway. But this is just one instance of a series of tragedies and troubles along the road: between 2004 and 2020, 608 vehicle collisions and traffic-related offences have been recorded on Highway 901, including six fatal collisions.

“It’s been ongoing for years,” said Siksika Councillor Rueben “Buck” Breaker, a member of Siksika’s public safety team. “That highway has been killing people.”

The stretch of highway is dangerous in part because it is used as a trucking route, he added. Moving east from southeast Calgary, Highway 22X turns into Highway 901, which connects to the Trans-Canada Highway just east of Siksika. Breaker said truckers might select this route to bypass a weigh station on the Trans-Canada located east of Strathmore.

Currently, the speed limit on Highway 901 is 100 km per hour. But many of its users drive in excess of this limit, said Breaker.

“These semi-trailer drivers, and even non-Nation members that are just using this highway, they’re going 120, 130 (km/h),” he said. “I’ve driven that highway in a snowstorm, and even then, semis are passing us recklessly.”

Siksika Chief and Council want the speed limit of the road reduced to 80 km per hour.

“Is that going to save lives? We don’t know,” said Breaker. “But at least it will give vehicle operators more time to react to seeing a pedestrian, or even livestock, which have also been known to go on the highway.”

Other changes to the road could be made to improve safety, including adding lights, signage and additional turnouts through high-traffic areas, according to a Feb. 1 news release from Siksika Chief and Council.

Siksika Nation is also in the process of reestablishing a band police force, after the province announced in October 2020 it would recognize First Nations police services through changes to the Police Act. Breaker said a Siksika Nation police force is still likely a few years away, but Nation members have started training, so they may ultimately be able to patrol the highway.

Siksika Chief and Council are “optimistic” that a mutually beneficial agreement can be reached about changes to the highway, because of the signed protocol agreement between the government of Alberta and the Blackfoot Confederacy, according to the release.

Action is needed now to make the highway safer, said Breaker.

“We want to make sure we protect our people and especially our school children – there are so many school buses that use that highway.”