JP Gladu on the Sand Point First Nation with his cousins Josef and Art Gladu/Courtesy JP Gladu.

By JP Gladu

September 16, 2024

Economic reconciliation is Canada’s competitive edge. That’s a bold statement, I know. But as Bob Dylan wrote, “The times they are a changin”, and in no other place in our country do we see immense change the way it’s happening in Canada’s Indigenous economy.

Our Indigenous economy is opportunity-rich and country-wide. Across Canada, Indigenous communities are increasingly empowered to balance responsible development and protection of our lands. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the Indigenous voice is key to unlocking our country’s full potential.

Over my career, I have witnessed the power of aligning Indigenous entrepreneurs who are making a difference in their families, communities and regions with corporate business leaders who understand the impact of working with these entrepreneurs.

Consider the Meadow Lake Tribal Council in Saskatchewan, which has been leading the way in Indigenous forest management for nearly 40 years. As the sole owner of NorSask Forest Products, it is the largest forest products company in Canada owned by First Nations, with over 100 full-time employees. The sawmill operates in the top quartile for quality, productivity and safety and the profits support economic development, social programs, employment and infrastructure in the nine First Nations communities represented by the tribal council. NorSask’s high performance has allowed the company to expand and diversify.

The woodland management company, Mistik Management, provides timber and forestry services to its owners: NorSask and Meadow Lake Mechanical Pulp. Mistik sustainably manages 1.8 million hectares of boreal forest and has achieved several environmental certifications, including from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Suncor is another lead Canadian example, committed to equity partnerships with Indigenous communities through honest and respectful relationship-building over recent decades. It has spent $15 billion to date on these partnerships — $3.1B in 2022 alone. That’s one company, in one region of Canada. You can see the incredible impact that this has in our nearby communities like Fort McKay — a reminder that the economic horse pulls the social cart. It has played a significant role in helping set the tone for other corporations in Canada to follow suit.

Small and medium enterprises are the backbone of our country, but there is also big business and big infrastructure. The number of Indigenous businesses in this category continues to grow: Companies like the Fort McKay-based Bouchier Group, with 1,300 staff, of which a steady-state 40% are Indigenous; and the Squamish First Nation, with their $3 billion Sen̓áḵw development in Vancouver. estimated to generate $20 billion in cashflow to their nation during the life of that project; or the $1.12 billion pipeline deal with Enbridge and 23 Indigenous nations. Today, Indigenous nations are the third- largest owner of renewable energy projects across the country.

Don’t tell me that we can’t have resource development and a healthy environment. I live on my Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek/Sand Point First Nation.  I’ve witnessed the leadership over the past 25 years, as we rose from nothing — quite literally nothing because of the forceful removal of our community members and burning of our homes by the provincial government in 1956 to make way for a provincial park. Today, we are a thriving community, with a sawmill producing lumber for the region, bio-gasification and biofuel projects, hydro assets, and tons of mining activity in our region, in which we’re now participating rightsholders. Our communities live on pristine, heathy Lake Nipigon, which is the largest lake within the boundaries of Ontario. We have a five-star eco-resort and incredible tourism, with potential for much more.

And we have started to see change in the way we are perceived.

When communities start to see themselves reflected in projects over which they have some environmental oversight rather than change unilaterally imposed from outside, it’s much easier to reach the “yes” required for economic development.

This evolution in our own abilities to advance our self-determination and economic prosperity by sustainably developing our lands is largely due to our hard-fought victories in battling for our rights in the courts.

We should be proud and celebrate Indigenous economic success. For too long, we’ve been on the periphery, on the margins of society in our own lands, and now we are finding our way to the epicentre of both our economy and our country.

Our First Nations across the country are becoming well-acquainted with the business of infrastructure projects. Today, more than 80% of renewable energy projects in Canada have some form of Indigenous ownership or are joint ventures.

Organizations such as the First Nations Major Projects Coalition have been indefatigable champions for change. They’ve estimated that, over the next decade, 475 natural resource projects will be developed, representing roughly $545 billion in capital. More than 80% will be in the energy sector. They currently have 17 projects under their purview representing $40 billion in capital — with either proposed or confirmed equity stakes.

We are seeing Canadian businesspeople from all sectors, large and small, appreciating the value of Indigenous relationships because it contributes to the economy, to their supply chains, and to their success. And because governments can no longer ignore this proof, we are finally into loan guarantee programs and major equity positions with billions of dollars of work, projects, and ownership.

I have long believed that the federal government could do much more to influence its supply chains. On average, it had spent less than 1% – and some years only 0.3% of its total spend on Indigenous businesses; that number was recently increased to a mandatory minimum Indigenous procurement target of 5% thanks to our lobbying efforts.

Having been barred by the Indian Act and the legacy of colonialism, Indigenous communities have had few options for securing capital and leveraging existing assets as collateral. The extraordinary cost of borrowing creates a barrier to equity investments in these projects, which will grow significantly in the next ten years.

The new Federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program announced in the Federal Budget 2024: Fairness to Every Generation promises greater access to affordable capital to help unlock opportunities for equity ownership in natural resource and energy projects. The new program was another hard-fought battle, but it is evidence to government that Indigenous entrepreneurs and nations, small and large businesses, industry and their leadership make a winning combination. While still in its infancy, this access to capital will not just finance our Indigenous future, it will secure our collective future.

Government backed loan and loan guarantee programs continue to play a key role in increasing Indigenous equity participation in projects across industries in Canada. With the support of current and recently announced programs, we only expect this trend to continue to increase. These include:

• British Columbia’s billion-dollar First Nations Equity Financing Framework for projects in the agriculture, aquaculture, tourism and natural resource sectors.
• Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation is using up to $3B in loan guarantees to transform ideas and innovation into action.
• The Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance Corporation provides loan guarantees to support Indigenous equity participation in major projects in the natural resource and value-added agriculture sectors.
• The Ontario Aboriginal Loan Guarantee Program, launched in 2009, supports Indigenous equity participation in electricity infrastructure projects. Indigenous nations are key to unlocking Canada’s full potential and to put us back in a position where we are in the top quartile within the OECD standings.

We must stop looking at economic reconciliation only as a long-overdue moral imperative. We must also look at it as our competitive edge. When our communities lead Environmental Assessments (EAs), it helps us get through the regulatory processes quicker. When we empower the Indigenous workforce, we create certainty for companies as they move into the future. And when we capitalize our communities to participate in equity projects, that form of consent strengthens reconciliation.

Government, industry, and society cannot choose which rights they support for Indigenous Peoples. If you support our rights, then you support our right to self-determination and our interests in advancing our economies in our territories.

The times certainly are changing. Which side of progress do you want to be on?

JP Gladu is founder and principal of Mokwateh, an economic reconciliation consultancy. He is past president of the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.