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Canada orders C$1B investment that could benefit First Nations
Gary Park for Petroleum News
The Canadian government has directed its Infrastructure Bank to support at least C$1 billion for Indigenous communities to invest in revenue-generating projects, with no indication that it has ruled out natural resource ventures.
Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna, formerly the federal environment minister who led the way in trying to close the door on new energy pipelines and export plans, said Canada has an urgent need to tackle an infrastructure deficit in those poverty-stricken communities.
“As the bank identifies investment opportunities in the public interest, I understand that will include infrastructure projects made in partnership with, and that benefit Indigenous people,” she wrote to the bank chairperson.
McKenna said that for any project to access funding it must estimate greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2016, a report by the Canada Council for Public-Private Partnerships estimated the infrastructure deficit for basic services in Indigenous communities at C$30 billion, compared with a national shortfall of C$570 billion.
Two corporate leaders said last September that “too many publicly funded programs addressing the Indigenous deficit are unpredictable, fragmented, overlapping, of short duration and developed for Indigenous communities, but not by them.”
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde welcomed the latest initiative as a “solid step toward unlocking revenue-generating projects.”
C$1B from bank’s pledge The C$1 billion will be drawn from the bank’s pledge of C$5 billion each for public transit, green infrastructure, transport and clean power and C$3 billion for rural broadband expansion.
In September, the government earmarked C$10 billion of spending over the next three years, primarily for environmental protection measures.
The bank was created in 2017 to attract private sector investment, such as pension funds, but so far only C$4 billion of the initial budget of C$35 billion has been allocated.
The bank is involved in advising a project in Ontario which involves Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corp. to establish the largest battery energy storage facility in Canada.
Until Keystone XL was scuttled it had drawn interest from several First Nations interested in acquiring an equity stake in the pipeline. Other First Nations have key roles in the TMX crude bitumen pipeline expansion and the Coastal GasLink pipeline to provide natural gas for the LNG Canada project.
- GARY PARK
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