Tag: reconciliation

First Nations seek meet­ing with Car­ney about sal­mon

Alli­ance cites need for open­net farm ban to revive fish

Spawning sockeye salmon make their way up the Adams River near Chase, B.C. The Coalition for First Nations Finfish Stewardship said that unlike the First Nations Wild Salmon Alliance, the group supports the choice to continue salmon farming on their traditional territories.

This article was written by Ashley Joannou and was published in the Toronto Star on October 1, 2025.

First Nations in Brit­ish Columbia are call­ing for a meet­ing with Prime Min­is­ter Mark Car­ney to dis­cuss pro­tect­ing and reviv­ing wild sal­mon.

Bob Cham­ber­lin, chair of the First Nations Wild Sal­mon Alli­ance, which includes more than 120 First Nations, said the fed­eral gov­ern­ment should cre­ate a First Nation­led plan to pro­tect the wild fish, sim­ilar to the joint land use plan for gov­ern­ing the Great Bear Rain­forest.

“We call on Prime Min­is­ter Car­ney to come and meet with us in Brit­ish Columbia, where we can dis­cuss the rehab­il­it­a­tion and rebuild­ing of wild sal­mon of Brit­ish Columbia as a nation­build­ing project,” he said. “One that is not extract­ive in nature, one that works to accom­mod­ate Abori­ginal rights, recon­cili­ation, bene­fits the envir­on­ment and the ful­some eco­nomy that depends on wild sal­mon.”

Cham­ber­lin said he’s nervous the fed­eral gov­ern­ment might not fol­low through on its prom­ise to ban open­net sal­mon farms by 2029, after ini­tially rolling back plans for the ban to be in place by 2025.

Sal­mon farm­ers have pushed back against the ban, say­ing the industry sup­ports about 4,700 jobs and gen­er­ates more than $1 bil­lion annu­ally, and the clos­ures will hurt coastal com­munit­ies.

Cham­ber­lin said the sal­mon farm­ing industry has money to lobby Ott­awa.

“We don’t have deep pock­ets. We have Abori­ginal rights. We have inher­ent rights, and if they were looked after appro­pri­ately by the fed­eral and pro­vin­cial Crown, it would be a bene­fit to all First Nations and Brit­ish Columbi­ans,” he said.

The Coali­tion for First Nations Fin­fish Stew­ard­ship, which rep­res­ents some B.C. coastal First Nations with sal­mon farm­ing oper­a­tions, said in a sep­ar­ate state­ment the group sup­ports the choice to con­tinue sal­mon farm­ing on their tra­di­tional ter­rit­or­ies.

They say the First Nations Wild Sal­mon Alli­ance does not speak for them.

“The real­ity is quite simple: Canada can­not afford, eco­nom­ic­ally, socially, or mor­ally, to shut down a mod­ern, sus­tain­able, Indi­gen­ousled industry in the face of grow­ing food insec­ur­ity, global trade instabil­ity, and a worsen­ing hous­ing crisis,” the state­ment said.

The state­ment said the coali­tion expects “the fed­eral gov­ern­ment will hon­our their com­mit­ments to a true Nation­to­Nation pro­cess.”

This year B.C. saw a bumper run of sock­eye on the Fraser River that the joint Canada­U.S. Pacific Sal­mon Com­mis­sion pre­dicted would be 9.1 mil­lion fish, mak­ing it the biggest return since 2018.

Don Svan­vik, hered­it­ary chief of the Nam­gis Nation, told the news con­fer­ence that fish are com­ing back after the removal of farms from the Broughton Archipelago, though there is still work to be done.

“Look at the hap­pi­ness that happened in par­tic­u­lar this year, in regard to the unex­pec­ted, by some, return of the sock­eye. The Nam­gis were able to deliver 15 sock­eye (each) to over 550 house­holds,” he said.

“More than half of those were off the reserve. So again, people were learn­ing how, teach­ing their chil­dren how, to pro­cess fish.”

Cham­ber­lin said work­ing with First Nations to pro­tect sal­mon would allow the gov­ern­ment to imple­ment recom­mend­a­tions from the Truth and Recon­cili­ation Com­mis­sion for the need to rebuild Indi­gen­ous oppor­tun­it­ies in cul­ture, tra­di­tions, and the attach­ment to land.

He said the alli­ance has been told that a report on the open­net ban is com­ing, but hasn’t been given details.

Cham­ber­lin sent a let­ter to the Prime Min­ster’s Office in August ask­ing for the meet­ing with Car­ney and Fish­er­ies Min­is­ter Joanne Thompson, but he says he has not heard back yet.

A state­ment from the Fish­er­ies Depart­ment said Thompson plans to meet with the First Nation Wild Sal­mon Alli­ance in Octo­ber. But it referred any ques­tions about the phase out of open­net sal­mon farm­ing to Innov­a­tion, Sci­ence and Eco­nomic Devel­op­ment Canada.

Discussion of major projects law expected to dominate AFN gathering

This article was written by Emily Haws and was published in the Globe & Mail on September 1, 2025.

Assembly of First Nations Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak says the gathering is a ‘challenging but opportune time to have really deep-dive discussions’ on economic development, land issues and common goals.

Indigenous chiefs from across Canada will meet in Winnipeg this week to debate how to leverage Ottawa’s major projects legislation to benefit their communities, while also ensuring they are at the table on matters of trade, the border and critical minerals development.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and his minsters spent the summer discussing the legislation’s implementation with Indigenous leaders. Some First Nations chiefs have been concerned it may trample on treaty rights and environmental protections. Others, however, are cautiously optimistic at the opportunity it could present.

“We find ourselves in a unique, challenging but opportune time to have really deep-dive discussions on economic development, economic opportunities, land issues in this country, and common goals that we all want to move forward with together,” Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, the Assembly of First Nations national chief, said in an interview ahead of the AFN annual general assembly.

Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak said the AFN will have legal experts speaking about the law, known as Bill C-5. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty is expected to attend.

The assembly is taking place in Winnipeg from Wednesday to Friday. There, the 634 chiefs of the AFN will debate and vote on draft resolutions, which if passed will set the direction for the organization’s leadership.

There are 53 draft resolutions being proposed on myriad topics. Two are directly about Bill C-5, while others are about topics such as trade, the border and mining.

The number of resolutions on a topic does not indicate the amount of likely discussion, Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak said, adding that she expects C-5 to dominate discussions.

Other subjects she expects to be widely discussed include child welfare, First Nations policing as an essential service, and the fall federal budget.

The Building Canada Act, which is part of Bill C-5, allows the federal cabinet to designate projects to be in the national interest, which exempts them from various laws to fast-track the approval process.

Mr. Carney has argued Bill C-5 is needed to build major projects and strengthen Canada’s economy in the face of trade threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. One of the AFN’s draft resolutions calls on the government to include closing the First Nations infrastructure deficit as a nation-building project. Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak said she expects it to pass.

The deficit includes basic infrastructure such as schools, roads, and health care facilities. The AFN estimates $349.2-billion is needed to close it by 2030, and has repeatedly called on the government to address it.

Flying Dust First Nation Chief Tyson Bear, who proposed the draft resolution, said it should be listed under Bill C-5.

“If we don’t catch up, I think we’re going to fall further behind,” he said, adding it would create jobs and spur further economic development.

The draft resolution also calls on the government to ensure it lives up to its constitutional obligations for consultation and free, prior and informed consent before going ahead with projects.

Free, prior and informed consent is a legal concept under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which came into force in Canada in 2021. The Federal Court of Canada ruled in March that it does not amount to a veto but a right to a robust process.

That resolution also calls for the AFN to intervene, when appropriate, in any First Nationsled litigation against Bill C-5.

Another draft resolution is calling on the AFN to advocate for amendments to Bill C-5 and ensure that any related reviews and orders include aspects such as legislated protections of First Nations rights, and “no unilateral authority granted to any minister to define regulatory provisions, override environmental protections, fast-track permitting processes.”

Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak said she didn’t want to speculate on whether that one would pass, but is looking forward to the discussion.

There is also a draft resolution calling for a long-term First Nations trade strategy that looks at the challenges, priorities and opportunities for internal and international trade. A First Nations trade entity should be created, it said, and the implementation plan needs to have clear timelines and deliverables.

In the interim, the draft resolution adds that immediate priorities should include calling on the government to ensure First Nations rights are upheld for the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement renegotiation, or any other new North American agreement, via First Nations negotiators.

Harlan Schilling, deputy chief for the Daylu Dena council, proposed the draft resolution and says it is about developing tools to advance First Nations trade.

Given the economic situation Canada faces with the Trump administration, “there is a lot of value and knowledge and techniques that First Nations, not just in British Columbia, but in Canada, can bring to the table,” he said.

First Nations knowledge can be used to ensure trade strategies are sustainable and equitable, he said. As Canada looks to new markets for growth, he added that First Nations people are the partners needed for success and longevity. AFN chiefs are also proposing a resolution to develop a First Nations-led critical minerals strategy.

There is a lot of value and knowledge and techniques that First Nations, not just in British Columbia, but in Canada, can bring to the table.

HARLAN SCHILLING, DEPUTY CHIEF FOR THE DAYLU DENA COUNCIL

Ford accused of `racist’ com­ments about First Nations

Premier’s ref­er­ence to `hat in hand’ comes a day before meet­ing with chiefs

This article was written by Robert Benzie and was published in the Toronto Star on June 19, 2025.

Premier Doug Ford is being accused of mak­ing “deeply offens­ive and racist” remarks about First Nations on the eve of a key meet­ing with Indi­gen­ous chiefs.

Amid con­tro­versy about fasttracked min­ing projects, Ford is sit­ting down with dozens of Anish­in­abek Nation chiefs Thursday at Queen’s Park to address their con­cerns over Bill 5.

But on Wed­nes­day in St. Cath­ar­ines, his off­the­cuff com­ments about how the law would help improve eco­nomic oppor­tun­it­ies for remote First Nations com­munit­ies sparked a firestorm.

“There’s an oppor­tun­ity of a life­time for them. We’re giv­ing them $3 bil­lion with a B … to be equity part­ners, to make their com­munit­ies more pros­per­ous and wealth­ier and have ser­vices they’ve never had before,” said Ford, adding “there’s going to be a point that you can’t just keep com­ing hat in hand all the time to the gov­ern­ment.

“You’ve got to be able to take care of yourselves — and when you lit­er­ally have gold mines, nickel mines, every type of crit­ical min­eral that the world wants, and you’re say­ing, `No, no, I don’t want to touch that, by the way, give me money.’ Not going to hap­pen. It’s simple.”

NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa (Kii­wet­inoong) said those com­ments “prove that the premier has a fun­da­mental lack of under­stand­ing of Ontario’s treaty rela­tion­ship with First Nations.”

“The premier’s remarks today were deeply offens­ive and racist. He is try­ing to cre­ate divi­sions in our province and is tak­ing us back,” said Mamakwa, whose rid­ing near Ken­ora includes the Ring of Fire min­ing project that Bill 5 is meant to exped­ite.

Although the “Pro­tect Ontario by Unleash­ing Our Eco­nomy Act,” was passed last week, the Pro­gress­ive Con­ser­vat­ives are scram­bling to tackle some of its out­stand­ing prob­lems in the reg­u­la­tion.

Oppon­ents warn the legis­la­tion infringes upon First Nation treaty rights and under­mines pro­tec­tions for the envir­on­ment and endangered spe­cies, because of new “spe­cial eco­nomic zones” designed to rush project approvals.

Grand Chief Alvin Fid­dler of Nish­nawbe Aski Nation, which rep­res­ents 49 First Nations in north­ern Ontario, said Ford’s “remarks are offens­ive, rooted in racism and colo­nial viol­ence.”

Ford’s meet­ing will take place just steps from an Indi­gen­ous encamp­ment protest against his con­ten­tious new law in city­run Queen’s Park behind the legis­lature.

The Anish­in­abek Nation, which rep­res­ents 39 First Nations across Ontario, also opposed the legis­la­tion, not­ing it “under­mines the prin­ciples of law­ful con­sulta­tion, envir­on­mental due pro­cess, Inher­ent Rights, Abori­ginal Title, and Abori­ginal Treaty (pro­tec­ted) Rights — all of which are found­a­tional to a stable and pre­dict­able invest­ment envir­on­ment.”

“While this bill may prom­ise short­term reg­u­lat­ory short­cuts, it will almost cer­tainly res­ult in longterm delays, legal battles, and repu­ta­tional dam­age for com­pan­ies involved,” the group said in a state­ment two weeks ago.

Enbridge sells 12.5% stake in pipeline

First Nations group secures $400M loan for pur­chase

This article was written by Lauren Krugel and was published in the Toronto Star on May 16, 2025.

The Canada Indi­gen­ous Loan

Guar­an­tee Corp. is provid­ing the First Nations con­sor­tium a $400­mil­lion loan guar­an­tee — the first such deal since Ott­awa set up the pro­gram late last year

“ People often ask what eco­nomic recon­cili­ation for Indi­gen­ous Peoples looks like. This is it.

CHIEF DAVID JIMMIE PRESIDENT AND CHAIR OF STONLASEC8 INDIGENOUS ALLIANCE LP

For more than 65 years, Enbridge Inc.’s West­coast pipeline has been pump­ing nat­ural gas through First Nations ter­rit­or­ies across Brit­ish Columbia.

Under a deal announced Thursday, three dozen of those com­munit­ies are to see long­term fin­an­cial bene­fits from the 2,900­kilo­metre sys­tem that stretches from B.C.’s far north­east to the Canada­U. S. bor­der.

“People often ask what eco­nomic recon­cili­ation for Indi­gen­ous Peoples looks like,” said Chief David Jim­mie, pres­id­ent and chair of Ston­lasec8 Indi­gen­ous Alli­ance LP, which rep­res­ents 36 B.C. First Nations.

“This is it.”

The alli­ance is to invest $715 mil­lion for a 12.5 stake in the West­coast sys­tem. The Canada Indi­gen­ous Loan Guar­an­tee Corp. is provid­ing the con­sor­tium a $400­mil­lion loan guar­an­tee — the first such deal since Ott­awa set up the pro­gram late last year.

“This is truly a trans­form­a­tional trans­ac­tion,” said Eliza­beth Wade­man, pres­id­ent and CEO of Crown cor­por­a­tion Canada Devel­op­ment Invest­ment Corp., which owns the Indi­gen­ous loan guar­an­tee cor­por­a­tion.

“It actu­ally rep­res­ents the largest loan guar­an­tee that will be issued ever, as well as the largest num­ber of Indi­gen­ous nations par­ti­cip­at­ing.”

In March, the loan pro­gram was doubled to $10 bil­lion and opened up to invest­ments in all sec­tors. It had been ini­tially set up to serve energy and other nat­ural resource projects.

Enbridge has signed sev­eral deals with First Nations in recent years.

Last year, Enbridge and Six Nations Energy Devel­op­ment LP announced plans to develop a massive wind energy project in south­east Saskat­chewan. The Seven Stars Energy Project, loc­ated near Wey­burn, is slated to pro­duce 200 mega­watts of clean elec­tri­city, enough to fuel more than 100,000 homes for a year.

In 2022, a con­sor­tium of 23 First Nations and Métis com­munit­ies agreed to acquire an 11.57 per cent stake in seven of Enbridge’s pipe­ lines in the Ath­abasca oils­ands region of north­east­ern Alberta for $1.12 bil­lion. A pro­vin­cial Crown cor­por­a­tion, the Alberta Indi­gen­ous Oppor­tun­it­ies Corp., provided a $250­mil­lion loan guar­an­tee.

“We have this his­tory that we’re able to build on and we con­tinue to look at oppor­tun­it­ies for Enbridge to advance Indi­gen­ous part­ner­ship invest­ments across our sys­tems,” said Cyn­thia Hansen, Enbridge’s pres­id­ent of gas trans­mis­sion and mid­stream.

Jim­mie, who is also chief of Squi­ala First Nation near Chil­li­wack, B.C., said Indi­gen­ous sup­port is “abso­lutely crit­ical” for major energy projects to go ahead.

“I think (Enbridge) recog­nizes this and they recog­nize that without Indi­gen­ous par­ti­cip­a­tion, you’re going to find it more dif­fi­cult to approach these types of projects,” he said.

Jim­mie said the returns from West­coast are to be dis­trib­uted equally among the con­sor­tium part­ners, and each is to decide how they’ll be inves­ted.

“But we all face sim­ilar chal­lenges with infra­struc­ture needs, hous­ing needs, how we alloc­ate for addi­tional sup­port for eld­ers, sup­port for youth,” he said. “We look at everything that builds the com­munity and how we can help sup­port mem­bers in our com­munit­ies and also help to advance eco­nomic devel­op­ment oppor­tun­it­ies.”

First Nations consortium to buy minority stake in Enbridge natural gas pipeline in B.C.

This article was written by Jeffrey Jones and was published in the Globe & Mail on May 16, 2025.

Stonlasec8 president and Squiala First Nation Chief David Jimmie says Indigenous participation is critical to building pipelines.

Stonlasec8 consortium using federal infrastructure loan to obtain part of Westcoast system

A consortium of 36 First Nations is buying a minority stake in Enbridge Inc.’s British Columbia natural gas pipeline network for $715-million in a bid to secure economic benefits from infrastructure that runs through their traditional territories.

Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance Limited Partnership will acquire a 12.5-per-cent interest in Enbridge’s Westcoast gas system, which extends to B.C.’s Lower Mainland from the northeastern part of the province.

Stonlasec8 has secured a $400-million loan guarantee under a program set up by Ottawa last year to ease the way for First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples to gain equity stakes in major industrial projects. It is the first group to do so.

The partners are launching the alliance as increasing numbers of Canadians voice support for expanding the country’s energy infrastructure in the face of trade tension with the United States.

David Jimmie, president of Stonlasec8 and Chief of Squiala First Nation, said Indigenous participation is critical if Canada aims to build pipelines and other industrial developments.

Through ownership, Indigenous groups across the country are increasingly looking to share in the economic opportunities that such projects generate to move beyond the protests and legal challenges of past years that led to developments getting stalled.

First Nations and the country as a whole benefit from the money that’s generated remaining in local communities to invest in housing, health care, services for elders and other business opportunities, Mr. Jimmie said.

“For years, First Nations communities that haven’t been involved in economic development, or haven’t had own-source revenue, faced challenges of dealing with poverty,” he said in an interview.

“Now as we see more success, you see that money staying within local economies and being spent.”

The 36 members of Stonlasec8 will garner equal shares of the returns generated from the Westcoast system after debt-servicing costs, and will have their own priorities for the money, he said.

The deal’s participants said they expect many more such transactions across the country. This one took two years to complete.

“Enbridge has taken the lead in developing partnerships and recognizing the impacts in territories. I think other industries are taking notice – there are other companies that are doing the same,” Mr. Jimmie said.

The Westcoast pipeline system runs 2,900 kilometres from Fort Nelson, B.C., to Huntingdon-Sumas at the Canada-U.S. border. It ships up to 3.6 billion cubic feet of gas a day.

Stonlasec8 declined to give details of its financing for the deal until it closes in the second quarter of this year.

This is Enbridge’s latest tie-up with Indigenous partners. In 2022, the company sold a minority stake in seven northern Alberta oil pipelines to a consortium of 23 First Nations and Métis communities for $1.12-billion.

Last year, the company and Six Nations Energy Development LP announced plans to develop a massive wind farm near Weyburn in southeast Saskatchewan known as the Seven Stars Energy Project.

It is having conversations with Indigenous groups about other potential deals as well, and government programs like the loan guarantees make more opportunities possible, said Cynthia Hansen, president of the Enbridge’s gas transmission and midstream division.

“So I think it’s an exciting time, but it’s going to require us to really have that focused support from the federal and provincial governments as we look to build out this infrastructure and really harness this incredible opportunity that’s in front of us,” she told reporters.

Canada Development Investment Corp. (CDEV), the federal agency in charge of the guarantee program, is in talks with other applicants as well. The timing of future announcements will depend on how advanced projects are and how prepared communities are to participate, said Elizabeth Wademan, CDEV’s chief executive officer.

The federal government in March doubled the amount of guarantees available under the program to Indigenous communities to $10-billion.

“Our intent is to be very active. It is to continue to work with nations and proponents on advancing forward applications, doing due diligence and structuring transactions,” Ms. Wademan said.

It is not the only federal agency supporting First Nation, Métis and Inuit investments. Last week, Canada Infrastructure Bank said it had surpassed $1-billion in funding for Indigenous projects and equity interests, and was set to announce more in the coming months.