The provincial government, not wanting Indigenous residents within the vicinity of Uranium City or working at the nearby mine, relocated Indigenous encampents near or within the developing mining town, and prohibited their settlement within one mile of the town’s limits.
According to a report prepared for the Department of Municipal Affairs, A Guide for Development, Uranium City and District., Uranium City housed tent encampents and isolated bush dwellings. These abodes were occupied by approximately 150 First Nations people, as well as 200 to 300 Métis. To further prevent the establishment of Indigenous dwellings in and around Uranium City, planners proposed that a boundary demarcate land 1.5-2 miles beyond the townsite unavailable for 'settlment.' It is noted that the policy was in effect but not rigidly applied. This likely hindered the economic development and stability of Indigenous residents in the region, while also segregating them away from settler colonists who relocated north for employment. This was both a tactic of economic, social, and political isolation.
- Bothwell, R. Eldorado: Canada’s National Uranium Company. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984.
- Izumi, Arnott. A Guide for Development, Uranium City and District. Regina: Department of Municipal Affairs, Community Planning Branch, 1956.
- Robert Boschman, and Bill Bunn. "Nuclear Avenue: “Cyclonic Development”, Abandonment, and Relations in Uranium City, Canada." Humanities 7, no. 1 (2018): 5-20.