Business
INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IS IMPORTANT TO THE CANADIAN WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY, WITH OVER 35 COMMUNITIES ALREADY BENEFITTING FROM WIND PROJECTS
INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IS IMPORTANT TO THE CANADIAN WIND ENERGY INDUSTRY, WITH OVER 35 COMMUNITIES ALREADY BENEFITTING FROM WIND PROJECTS
This article was written in 2019, prior to the July 1, 2020, creation of the Canadian Renewable Energy Association, which joined CanWEA with the Canadian Solar Industries Association.
Canada’s wind energy industry has been involved with and benefited over 35 Indigenous communities in the country. As the voice of the industry, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has been a supporter of Indigenous participation in Canadian wind projects. One of the ways that CanWEA has been active is by being a “Clean Energy Collaborator” with the innovative 20/20 Catalysts Program, which supports clean energy development in Indigenous communities. An example of this collaboration has included working with Catalysts like Chantelle Cardinal (2018 cohort) on convening Indigenous leaders at CanWEA events to enable meaningful discussions about the obstacles and opportunities for Indigenous involvement in wind energy projects. This collaboration is important, since “many of Alberta’s Indigenous communities are focused on opportunities to participate in the clean energy development occurring in their Traditional Territory and to creating opportunity on Reserve and on Settlement lands,” as Ms. Cardinal told CanWEA’s 2019 Spring Forum in Banff, Alberta. In recognition of the effectiveness of the 20/20 Catalysts Program, CanWEA honoured the program with its 2018 Group Leadership Award, which recognizes visionary leaders and clean energy pioneers for their outstanding contribution to the Canadian wind industry.
Canada’s wind energy industry has been involved with and benefited over 35 Indigenous communities in the country.
As the voice of the industry, the Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) has been a supporter of Indigenous participation in Canadian wind projects. One of the ways that CanWEA has been active is by being a “Clean Energy Collaborator” with the innovative 20/20 Catalysts Program, which supports clean energy development in Indigenous communities.
Chantelle Cardinal, a Saddle Lake Band member from Whitefish Lake #128 and a Catalyst from the 2018 cohort, is one of the Catalysts with whom CanWEA has been working on convening Indigenous leaders at CanWEA events to enable meaningful discussions about the obstacles and opportunities for Indigenous involvement in wind energy projects in Alberta. She has been working with First Nations in Alberta for over 14 years and is currently the Director of Business Development & Environment for the G4 (Stoney Nakoda-Tsuut’ina Tribal Council).
Effective Indigenous and public engagement are cornerstones for successful wind energy development. CanWEA has developed Best Practices for Indigenous and Public Engagement to help industry members consult, engage and communicate on wind energy developments.
“Many of Alberta’s Indigenous communities are focused on opportunities to participate in the clean energy development occurring in their Traditional Territory and to creating opportunity on Reserve and on Settlement lands,” Ms. Cardinal told CanWEA’s 2019 Spring Forum in Banff, Alberta. “Wind energy projects across Canada have demonstrated exemplary, mutually-beneficial partnerships with Indigenous peoples. From community involvement and investment, to contracts and long-term employment, these partnerships are blazing a new trail for how to facilitate collaborative Indigenous engagement and access this country’s vast renewable resources.”
At the Spring Forum, she led an Indigenous panel discussion on the strengths, benefits and lessons from Indigenous participation in wind energy developments. A key point was that clean energy projects can contribute to energy and economic sovereignty for Indigenous communities.
In recognition of its successes, CanWEA awarded the 20/20 Catalysts Program with its 2018 Group Leadership Award, which recognizes visionary leaders and clean energy pioneers for their outstanding contribution to the Canadian wind industry. (This story was written in 2019, prior to the creation of Canadian Renewable Energy Association).
Thanks to Todayville for helping us bring our members’ stories of collaboration and innovation to the public.
Click to read a foreward from JP Gladu, Chief Development and Relations Officer, Steel River Group; Former President and CEO, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.
JP Gladu, Chief Development and Relations Officer, Steel River Group; Former President & CEO, Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business
Click to read comments about this series from Jacob Irving, President of the Energy Council of Canada.
Jacob Irving, President of Energy Council of Canada
The Canadian Energy Compendium is an annual initiative by the Energy Council of Canada to provide an opportunity for cross-sectoral collaboration and discussion on current topics in Canada’s energy sector. The 2020 Canadian Energy Compendium: Innovations in Energy Efficiency is due to be released November 2020.
Click below to read more stories from Energy Council of Canada’s Compendium series.
INDUSTRY-INDIGENOUS RELATIONS: A TREND TOWARD DEEPER ENGAGEMENT
As I’m sure your eyes have been glued to every scrap of news about the recent COP30 climate conference, I need hardly tell you about Canada’s related $392 million commitment. This, of course, will be part of (or perhaps in addition to) our overall $200 billion investment in the fight against global warming since 2015.
$200 billion, by the way, comes to nearly $5,000 for each man, woman, and child in the country. The yearly interest on the loans that were required to spend that money will cost considerably more. And, as far as we can tell, all that money has so far failed to even slow the rise in global temperatures.
Ok. But who’s getting this particular tranche of $392 million? Well, $263 million of it will go to the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
IFAD is a fund, so it doesn’t do anything itself. But in this case, it’s expected to distribute money for projects in the Brazilian Amazon and work with local partners on forest and rural development issues. It’s the local partners who will do the work.
No matter who’s holding the shovels, any rural, agricultural, or environmental operations taking place in, for example, the State of Amazonas will require approval or licensing from the government agency, Instituto de Proteção Ambiental do Amazonas (IPAAM).
And that could be interesting. Because that very same IPAAM, as it happens, has been under Brazilian Federal Police investigation for the past year. In other words, the agency in control of issuing licenses and authorizing the work IFAD wants done, is (allegedly) as crooked as a corkscrew.
Well that certainly gets us off to a great start.
The next $106 million from Canada’s commitment has been directed to Deetken Asset Management’s new Inclusive Climate Action Fund (ICAF). As the name suggests, ICAF is a climate-focused investment fund whose broader strategy includes a “gender lens”. Which is another way of saying that financial success is not the fund’s overriding priority.
Under the best of circumstances, deploying climate-focused financial instruments through small and medium-sized enterprises – especially in emerging markets – is notoriously challenging. Besides all the regular headwinds facing any business startup, initiatives in those parts of the world will routinely face risks related to corruption, criminal gangs, and plenty of currency volatility. Being forced to operate while business solvency is your second or third-tier priority is like swimming across a fast-moving river with your legs tied to a tree.
What’s curious is that the government is doubling down on ESG investments at just the moment in history when ESG failures are hitting their stride. U.S.-based ESG funds faced net outflows of $8.6B in Q1 2025, while fund closures outpaced launches in 2024. Major managers like Vanguard approved no ESG proposals at all in 2024.
Closer to home, Canada Pension Plan Investments scrapped its net-zero emissions commitment “after several Canadian banks left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance earlier this year”. It seems that they felt rigid climate targets could conflict with the Plan’s fiduciary duties to maximize financial returns.
I for one would be curious to know who in Global Affairs Canada was ultimately responsible for those spending choices and whether they’ll be held responsible in the event of program failures. Although, all things considered, I’d be surprised if we ever hear anything at all about where all that money really ended up.
From Resource Works
Barry Penner doesn’t posture – he brings evidence. And lately, the evidence has been catching up fast to what he’s been saying for months.
Penner, chair of the Energy Futures Institute and a former B.C. environment minister and attorney-general, walked me through polling that showed a decisive pattern: declining support for electric-vehicle mandates, rising opposition, and growing intensity among those pushing back.
That was before the political landscape started shifting beneath our feet.
In the weeks since our conversation, the B.C. government has begun retreating from its hardline EV stance, softening requirements and signalling more flexibility. At the same time, Ottawa has opened the door to revising its own rules, acknowledging what the market and motorists have been signalling for some time.
Penner didn’t need insider whispers to see this coming. He had the data.
Barry Penner, Chair of the Energy Futures Institute
B.C.’s mandate remains the most aggressive in North America: 26 per cent ZEV sales by 2026, 90 per cent by 2030, and 100 per cent by 2035. Yet recent sales paint a different picture. Only 13 per cent of new vehicles sold in June were electric. “Which means 87 per cent weren’t,” Penner notes. “People had the option. And 87 per cent chose a non-electric.”
Meanwhile, Quebec has already adjusted its mandate to give partial credit for hybrids. Polling shows 76 per cent of British Columbians want the same. The trouble? “There’s a long waiting list to get one,” Penner says.
Cost, charging access and range remain the top barriers for consumers. And with rebates shrinking or disappearing altogether, the gap between policy ambition and practical reality is now impossible for governments to ignore.
Penner’s advice is simple, and increasingly unavoidable: “Recognition of reality is in order.”
- Now watch Barry Penner’s full video interview with Stewart Muir on Power Struggle here:
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