Shown are some of the former military housing units on the Tsuu T'ina reserve, which the band wants to knock down for redevelopment. (CBC)

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the Tsuu T'ina First Nation's case against a small group of squatters refusing to leave condemned homes on the reserve.

The decision, released Thursday morning, is a win for at least three people still living at Black Bear Crossing, who argue they are band members and should be allowed to stay in their homes on Tsuu T'ina First Nation land, adjacent to southwest Calgary.

The band disagrees, saying they lost their rights when they or their mothers married non-band men.

"There are a lot of women out here who are not married and they are afraid to get married because they are living in limbo," said Florence Fraser Peshee, one of the residents of Black Bear Crossing fighting for her band membership.

"[Or] they were married in other reserves and they are living quietly and they don't want to get kicked off."

The band wants to evict the residents living in Black Bear Crossing, former military barracks that were condemned as unfit for habitation two years ago, so it can bulldoze and redevelop the land.

But in February, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the residents could not be evicted until their membership status was settled, so the Tsuu T'ina band applied to appeal that decision to the Supreme Court of Canada. The appeal was turned down Thursday morning.

Water, electricity struggles

Meanwhile, tensions between the band and the people still living at Black Bear Crossing are escalating.

On Wednesday, a Court of Queen's Bench Justice ordered that all utilities be maintained until the band's attempts to go through the courts to have the tenants evicted were resolved.

The ruling comes after Fred Fraser and Peshee claimed someone removed an electric meter Tuesday, leaving them in dark.

Peter Manywounds is a spokesman for the Tsuu T'ina First Nation. (CBC)

While they were waiting for the utility company to come and restore power Wednesday afternoon, a city waterworks crew, acting on orders from the band council, turned off the water.

Fraser, who is living at Black Bear Crossing, said Wednesday he will not be intimidated.

"I think this is scare tactics. They say we don't have no rights, but we do."

Peter Manywounds, who speaks for the band council and chief, said Wednesday the band will abide by the court's ruling on utilities, but first it needs to get the order in writing, get a legal interpretation and then get council approval.

In the meantime, Fraser said he would stay in the house even without light, heat and water, but go back to court Thursday morning to get their utilities restored.

Hundreds of people moved into the abandoned former military housing on the reserve in 1998, in part because of a housing shortage. A fire in 2006 uncovered asbestos contamination, and about 600 people were forced out when the residences were deemed unfit for human habitation. About 100 of those people weren't band members, according to the federal government.