Council for the Municipality of Rhineland agrees with its lawyer - that the Border Road lawsuit won't make it to the Supreme Court of Canada. Lawyer Dean Giles, who represents Rhineland and the province, in this case, stated in an earlier interview that he's not so sure the case would ever reach Canada's highest court. "We certainly agree with our lawyer's perspective," said Reeve Don Wiebe.

The matter was brought before a federal court in Winnipeg last year where the judge determined the court had no jurisdiction in the matter based on the wording of the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act, and as a result, could not rule on the matter. That ruling was upheld by the Federal Court of Appeal last month.

The legal team representing the American side says it is weighing all of its options but believes an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is imminent. They have until early August to file their appeal.

If the high court were to grant the appeal, the argument that would be presented would centre on whether the federal court and the appeal court erred in their judgment on the issue of jurisdiction. It would not focus on the original issue of compensation for the North Dakota litigants.

We asked Wiebe, who says there are no easy solutions to this issue if there's a chance that the matter could eventually be resolved outside of the court system.

"Do you find another drain to the Red River or do you even go back to something that was considered I believe in the seventies, and that's the notion of a Cavalier dam? (It) would be very useful to Canadian and Americans to store some of that water, so if you're looking at water management that is another question to consider. Hopefully, when this gets resolved we can get back to serious discussions about how to find a solution to the Pembina (River)."

A group of North Dakota farmers and municipalities allege the Border Road is responsible for decades of damage to crops, fields and municipal infrastructure during spring flood events. The American group contends that the road is actually a dike that impedes the natural flow northward of floodwater from the Pembina River into Manitoba.

Despite this issue, Wiebe feels that the relationship between the Municipality of Rhineland and American officials hasn't suffered as a result.

"We're very much a part of the Red River Basin (Commission) and a sub-chapter is the Pembina, a special committee had been formed and a director was named to it to help with the processing of the issues on the Pembina, and because of this that work has just not begun but I have been in no conversations where the relationship has been strained."

Ultimately, He says Municipality of Rhineland officials would like to move forward and try to resolve this issue in a cooperative way.