The Simon Fraser University (SFU) report that calls for the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) to be shelved is built on mischaracterizations of Canadian energy and ignores the real-life benefits the project provides to Indigenous Canadians during a time of high unemployment and economic instability.

By the end of 2020, Trans Mountain had awarded $1.4 billion in work contracts to Indigenous businesses. That, in addition to more than $550 million in benefits and opportunities agreements TMX has signed with Indigenous communities.

If that went away, it would mean unemployment and the closure of a real and significant path to prosperity for many Indigenous Canadians.

Gregory John

As the Canadian Energy Centre has made clear, the conclusions presented in the SFU report are based on flawed assumptions ignoring the fact that global oil market fundamentals continue to support the long-term future of TMX.

The SFU researchers also misrepresent the project’s relationship with Indigenous people, using outdated mapping from April 2018 that leaves out new agreements and routing changes negotiated by First Nations leadership and communities.

A major pipeline re-route and an agreement reached with the Coldwater Indian Band and seven other First Nations near Merritt, BC in October 2020 is one of the most important displays of the ongoing work being done by the project.

Trans Mountain applied to change the path of the pipeline through the band’s territory, in response to requests that the route avoid potential impacts to a major aquifer. The re-route application, which is supported by the Coldwater community, includes an additional 609-page socioeconomic and environmental impact assessment; evidence of the project’s commitment to environmentally responsible routing in collaboration with these Nations.

The SFU report does not address how First Nations have used the economic opportunity created by the project as a springboard into developing their own spin-off projects.

For example, the Lower Nicola Indian Band’s Kingsvale Electricity Transmission Line represents Canada’s first electricity transmission line to be constructed, majority-owned, operated, maintained, and financed by an Indigenous community. It was built to power a Trans Mountain pump station located in Lower Nicola territory.

The Lower Nicola Band celebrates the decades of anticipated economic benefits from the utility project, including jobs and a stable revenue stream. If the Trans Mountain expansion is shelved, the Lower Nicola would be left with a utility that serves no purpose, a fact not considered in the SFU analysis.

Indigenous people have been the single largest driver in transforming how Canada’s oil and gas industry views project development, which is much different today than even just five years ago.

It is undisputed that Indigenous people are critical partners in understanding how to resources can be responsibly developed in a way that best protects our shared land, water, and air – something all Canadians have a vested interest in protecting.

The SFU report is simply another example of virtue signaling during a time of global pandemic that has challenged the livelihoods of billions globally, including First Nations in Canada who are benefitting from TMX.

Gregory John is a proud citizen of the Metis Nation of Alberta with a BComm in finance and a candidate to receive his MBA later this year from the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. He is a passionate energy advocate whose career has been focused on creating economic opportunities for Indigenous people and communities through energy infrastructure ownership and participation. 

The unaltered reproduction of this content is free of charge with attribution to Canadian Energy Centre Ltd. 

There’s no shortage of opinions about Canada’s energy sector. But in many cases, the discussions are not as informed as they could be.

Over the past year, the Canadian Energy Centre’s research staff has “deep-dived” into the data about one of Canada’s central industries. The Centre has scoured data from Statistics Canada, the International Energy Agency, the US Energy Information Administration, Freedom House, Eurostat and other domestic and international statistical agencies. That has allowed the Canadian Energy Centre to compile original reports that highlight multiple facets of Canada’s energy sector and also provide critical comparisons to other countries on everything from employment and the environment to investment trends and which energy-producing countries score high on human rights.

Combing through seven Research Briefs and 23 Fact Sheets released in 2020, the CEC has prepared 75 key facts about Canadian oil and gas to help inform conversations about the industry.

The full list can be downloaded here, complete with associated data charts. All of the CEC’s research can be found at canadianenergycentre.ca/research.

Here are some of the key themes and findings from our Top 75 list:

The oil and gas industry is a key economic contributor to Canada

• Canada’s energy industry paid over $672 billionin federal, provincial and local taxes, royalties and fees since 2000 – enough to pay off the currently projected federal deficit almost twice over.
• Since 2000, Canada’s oil and gas sector alone paid over $493 billion to federal, provincial, and local governments, more than the next two top industries – real estate and construction – combined.
• Even during the 2016 downturn, the oil and gas industry’s share of Canada’s GDP was twice the size of the automotive industry and more than four times the size of the aerospace industry.

Oil and gas is a truly CANADIAN industry

• Oil and gas creates jobs and fuels the economy from coast to coast.
• In Ontario, the industry supported over 68,000 jobs in 2016, directly and indirectly, paying more than $2.1 billion in wages and salaries. The sector also was responsible for adding $7.3 billion in nominal GDP to Ontario’s economy.
• It was a similar story in B.C., with nearly 57,000 jobs supported, $2.3 billion in wages and salary and $7.7 billion in nominal GDP. Likewise in Atlantic Canada, supporting some 27,000 jobs, paying more than $1.6 billion in salaries and wages and adding $6.3 billion in nominal GDP.

The oil and gas industry is a global ESG leader

Canada’s oil and gas sector punches above its weight when it comes to protecting the environment.

• Despite producing only 0.3 per cent of global GHG emissions, Canada’s oil and gas sector accounted for 52 per cent of environmental protection spending by all Canadian industries between 2000 and 2016.
• Oil sands emissions intensity has gone down 22 per cent since 2011, while oil sands producers recycle up to 96 per cent of water used in their operations.
• Emissions from natural gas flaring have dropped 38 per cent since 2014, even as natural gas production increased by 22 per cent.
• According to a 2020 analysis by BMO Capital Markets, Canada is number one among major oil and gas reserve holders on environmental, social and governance measures.

Indigenous involvement and benefits

Despite a consistent narrative to the contrary, Indigenous communities have largely supported the oil and gas industry.

• For example, almost all B.C. First Nations with a publicly available position on oil and gas support the responsible development and extraction of fossil fuel resources. In Alberta, 100 per cent of First Nations with publicly available positions support both oil and natural gas development.
• Indigenous people in Canada’s oil and gas sector have lower unemployment rates and higher incomes. As well, the oil and gas industry pays Indigenous Canadians better than any other major industry.
• The oil and gas industry employs a greater proportion of Indigenous Canadians than any other major industry – more than double the automotive and aerospace sectors combined.
• Oil and gas producers have spent more than $13 billion with Indigenous businesses since 2012.

Click here for the full Reference Guide. You can also find other facts about Canadian energy here: canadianenergycentre.ca.

Indigenous groups seeking ownership stakes on high profile Canadian pipeline projects have become something of a recent trend, with Indigenous-led bids for the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and Keystone XL generating headlines.

British Columbia’s Coastal GasLink project is about to get its day in the spotlight thanks to the First Nations Major Project Coalition (FNMPC), which is supporting members interested in securing ownership in the natural gas pipeline project, slated to be completed in 2022.

The FNMPC is a not-for-profit organization that was formed in 2017 whose membership now represents 60 First Nations in every province from B.C. to Ontario. The FNMPC offers neutral capacity building expertise, from governance to engineering/technical, to First Nations within their membership who wish to engage in major projects across Canada, like Coastal Gaslink.

Seeking a 10 per cent equity stake in the 670-kilometre pipeline, twelve First Nations across Northern B.C. have been involved in discussions for nearly two years since TC Energy announced it would be selling up to 75 per cent of the $6.6-billion pipeline project in January 2019.

While it is the group of twelve First Nations — referred to as the CGL First Nations Limited Partnership — that is leading the negotiations in securing this equity position, Chief Clayton Pountney of the Lhiedli T’enneh First Nation acknowledged the important role FNMPC has played in the transaction.

“With the help of FNMPC, the community-driven approach to establishing the governance of the CGL First Nation Limited Partnership have ensured community leaders are in control of the decision making,” says Pountney.

With the first pipe in the ground after a successful summer construction season, First Nations along the line have turned their focus in securing a “set-aside” portion of equity in the pipeline that will run from Dawson Creek to Kitimat, after commercial talks on a larger stake in the project broke down after the group hit a common barrier faced by First Nations.

“We were very disappointed when this group of First Nations couldn’t secure a cost of capital that would enable them to continue in the open bid process,” said Niilo Edwards, executive director of the FNMPC.

“It has been this issue over and over [of limited access to capital] that has created barriers to Indigenous economic growth which has only heightened the FNMPC resolve in breaking down these barriers for future major project opportunities.”

Coastal GasLink has already seen $825 million worth of Indigenous and local contracting awarded and underway in the region, with up to $1 billion expected once the project is completed. But it is the equity component that would see benefits from the pipeline extended past the construction phase to participating First Nations.

In May 2019, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) purchased 65 per cent of the pipeline for a conglomerate of investors from TC Energy, which left the 10 per cent equity portion remaining for the twelve First Nations to purchase.

“We are an organization that supports its members in offering independent, trusted, and unbiased advice in support of projects members are interested in, regardless of industry,” says Edwards.

Nothing demonstrates that commitment more than the portfolio of projects the FNMPC says they are currently supporting – everything from electricity transmission and hydroelectric power generation, to environmental studies, and renewable energy projects, including the ground breaking, 100 per cent Indigenous-owned Clarke Lake Geothermal project in Northeastern British Columbia.

It’s been something of a whirlwind for Calgary-based Steel River Group since the Indigenous-owned pipeline and construction company charged off the starting line three years ago.

Between 2017-2019, the group of companies — Steel River Solutions, Steel River Energy Services, and Steel River Equipment — enjoyed an 8,662 per cent increase in revenue growth, which now generates $50 million to $100 million a year.

That explosive growth recently earned the company, and its co-founders Trent Fequet and Nick Pentelichuk, recognition by Canadian Business magazine as the country’s fastest growing start-up.

“I nearly stopped answering Trent’s calls when he wanted to start Steel River, but decided to take this risk with him, and I’m glad I did,” says Pentelichuk, who leads Steel River Solutions.

Fequet, Steel River Group’s president and CEO, said the secret to the company’s success is actually quite simple – it’s about the people.

“Our people have given us this opportunity to grow at this pace,” says Fequet, whose philosophy boils down to “people first, revenue later.”

Steel River Group’s reach now stretches across three provinces with eight Indigenous partner communities, representing an impressive cross-section of the Indigenous identity in Canada including First Nations, Métis, and non-Status communities in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.

The company’s approach to business honours the unique culture, history, values, and beliefs of all Indigenous communities, and it honours the unique qualities and culture of each of its Indigenous partners, in what is describe as Steel River’s “Ecosystem Model.”

“Our ecosystem model seeks out a values-based approach [to] business opportunity between us, our alliance partners, and Indigenous partners and in practice represents something different in each community we partner with,” says Fequet.

The journey that took Fequet from the rocky shores of Eastern Quebec, across the Gulf of St. Lawrence from Newfoundland, to a corporate office in Calgary was far from a straight line.

“We grew up living off the land where 80 per cent of what we ate was seafood, moose, and salmon,” say Fequet who calls the village of Pakuashipi home. “It was very remote. So remote that we had to move to finish high school.”

He calls the Innu community “the most beautiful place in Canada,” not for the more conventional reasons , but for the cultural mosaic represented there. “There’s the Métis, the Inuit, the Innu, First Nations, and non-Indigenous people,” he says.

Fequet began his career in some of the most remote locations in Canada. Through Nunavut, the Northwest Territories, and eventually the Yukon he blazed a path of experience and learning through mining and heavy industrial construction, which eventually landed him at Surerus Murphy, a pipeline construction company based in Calgary.

But being a risk taker at heart, Fequet decided it was time to use his knowledge and experience to build his own legacy.

In building Steel River, nothing illustrates Fequet’s comfort with risk taking more than how he changed absolutely every traditional business process, strategy, and model to align with his — and now Steel River’s — values, beliefs, and culture, using his experience as a basis for why he saw this as necessary. He did not ask for permission, or even sought proof that this redesign would work — he just did it.

Steel River Group is currently preparing to launch a new addition into its fold with a consultation group aimed at complementing the organization’s existing companies. The consultation arm is built through an Indigenous perspective that acknowledges and proposes a solution to the shortfalls of the current regulatory and legal consultation process.

As well, the company recently launched its People-Public-Private Partnership (P4) model, which aims to address the single largest barrier to Indigenous prosperity – access to capital, within a collaborative and supportive environment across stakeholder groups.

Fequet says he wants to use the achievements of Steel River Group to effect change within Indigenous communities, focusing on the individual as the most powerful change agent, which for Fequet is more than a business strategy, but a core part being an Indigenous leader in energy and business.

Coming from rural Alberta roots, Métis geophysicist and community relations specialist Thalia Aspeslet couldn’t have imagined how large her world would one day become.

The journey to become a globetrotter and community builder wasn’t an easy one for Aspeslet, who spent a large majority of her teen years moving from small town to small town in northern Alberta after being born in Grimshaw,  a small community some 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

“I was exposed to Indigenous racism and poverty, which made it hard for me to identify with my Indigenous heritage,” says Aspeslet, noting that identity was often met with negativity while she was growing up.

It wasn’t until Aspeslet was welcomed into the University of Calgary’s Writing Symbols Lodge (formerly the Native Centre) that she firmly connected with her Métis roots.

“For the first time in my life, I had a place at the Writing Symbols Lodge where I could be proud of my Indigenous heritage where would could share stories, and through that sharing find common ground between the staff and students in that centre.”

Aspeslet’s road from small town Alberta to world traveler was more by happenstance than by design.

It wasn’t until she began high school upgrading at Calgary’s Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in preparation for university that her career trajectory changed forever, in one of the most unexpected places.

“I was reading a short story in my English class where the main character was a geophysicist who travelled the world — and it was that moment that I decided that is what I wanted to be.

“At the time, I didn’t even know what a geophysicist was,” says Aspeslet with a laugh. “But if I got to see the world through this career choice, that was good enough for me.”

Fast forward nearly a decade, the mother of one has spent time in the Netherlands, Texas, Utah, and even southern Spain in her capacity as a geophysicist – a dream that was realized while working for Royal Dutch Shell out of the company’s Calgary office.

Aspeslet credits Deborah Green, who was Shell’s Indigenous recruitment specialist when she completed her geophysics degree from the University of Calgary, for helping her realize “there was a path in bridging my degree with real opportunity.”

Soon after graduation, she was hired as an intern at Shell, which eventually led to full-time employment with the energy giant’s subsurface assessment group. She worked through technical roles with the company as a geophysicist-in-training that eventually allowed her to move into an external relations role.

“Throughout my career, I could never shake the impact on community by my technical work,” says Aspeslet. “I am trained to understand the impacts of oil and gas subsurface but couldn’t ignore the above ground effects on people and environment – especially within Indigenous lands.”

And by being a part of building those relationships with Indigenous communities, Aspeslet has seen the positive impacts through involvement with energy projects.

“Through energy, you have a real impact on the communities you partner with,” says Aspeslet who now acts as a Community Relations Officer with Pieridae Energy.

“You’re able to support community education and training initiatives that serve a community need, not just a project need.”

Aspeslet credits her experience with the U of C’s Writing Symbols Lodge that formed the basis for her achievements within energy today, and helped her decide that Calgary was where she wanted to make her home with her son Ethan.

“The level of regulatory rigour is world class in Canada and it is through that rigour where, in partnership, Indigenous prosperity and project excellence, is possible – I am excited to have found a place in my career where I can be a part of that realization.”

As one of the newest board members of the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB), Annie Korver is committed to helping create mutually beneficial business opportunities between energy companies and Indigenous communities.

It’s something that the proud Metis mother of two has seen numerous times in her career. She says an example that stands out is how Simpcw First Nation, located 50 kilometres northeast of Kamloops, BC, built economic opportunity through participation in the Trans Mountain Anchor Loop project in 2008/2009.

The community’s relationship with Trans Mountain, which Korver helped enhance, has grown into long-term work for the nation and its members.

“It was amazing to see how the community built opportunities around putting their people to work on economic activity in their territory,” Korver says. “Seeing the before and after is inspiring and it continues today as they drive own-source revenue through community-owned businesses.”

Korver describes herself as an Indigenous inclusion and economic development practitioner. In addition to Trans Mountain, she has added her expertise to numerous companies in the energy sector, from small players to majors like Imperial Oil.

“It was amazing to see how truly big the opportunity is to effect change through the energy industry,” she says.

Korver hadn’t thought she was destined to be an entrepreneur, but she was encouraged on that path by one of her professors, Bob Schulz, during her executive MBA at the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, which she completed in 2013.

“[He] noticed that when discussing Indigenous rights issues in class there was a complete change in how I sat, talked and discussed these issues and suggested this was something I should dig into,” says Korver. “I turned my attention to building my knowledge about the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada and the opportunity for economic reconciliation.”

Out of that encouragement, Rise Consulting was born. Korver is principal of the company, where she champions a values-based approach to strategic inclusion with relationships built on trust and respect.

She is excited to see what impact Rise can make in connecting opportunities in pursuit of the “rising presence of our people in Canada,” which is the basis for her company’s name.

Her face lights up when she talks about her passion for the mountains, family and work. She says her son Fin and daughter Sarah have played a pivotal role in her seeking and cultivating growth in her career.

Korver’s new board position at the CCAB has shone a light on how important it is to share positive stories of shared value between companies and Indigenous communities on a national level.

While CCAB holds no specific position on any industry, nearly half of the companies it has awarded with Progressive Aboriginal Relations (PAR) certification work in energy or energy support services. PAR certification is a rigorous ongoing process that guides companies on working with Indigenous communities in a culturally appropriate manner.

Through her roles with CCAB and with Rise Consulting, Korver plans to continue bringing together companies and Indigenous communities.

“As a servant leader and Indigenous woman who has seen the benefits of when industry partnerships with Indigenous communities go well, I will do my part in ensuring that I lend my expertise and passion in creating more examples of this on behalf of the communities and companies I am fortunate to work with.”

Raylene Whitford’s unorthodox career path took the Métis woman from corporate boardrooms to a frigid winter working as a roughneck in northern Alberta.

From oak paneled offices in London, England, to the icy decks of drilling rigs, to working with Indigenous communities in the Amazon, Whitford’s career trajectory has been anything but conventional.

“I may very well be one of the few people in the world to go from roughneck to one of the youngest ever CFOs on the London Stock Exchange in a matter of months” Whitford says with a laugh.

A Chartered Accountant who has an MBA in Oil and Gas Management from Aberdeen (Scotland), Whitford is now pursuing a PhD in Indigenous Studies and Business at the University of Alberta.

After graduating from the Alberta School of Business, Whitford qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in London (UK). Following a tour in Corporate Finance and Mergers and Acquisitions she took a sabbatical from an advisory role with British Petroleum in 2014 to spend a winter working as a roughneck for Akita Drilling in Alberta.

“I had this insatiable need to learn how the industry operates from the ground up, and to learn the language of drilling,” she says.

“Everyone told me I was crazy for giving up business class flights all over Europe for a pair of coveralls and steel toe boots in Northern Alberta, but there was never a question in my mind — It was something I had to do.”

During that winter, the company’s first Indigenous female rig-hand made a name for herself as a reliable, capable, and hardworking team member during some of the coldest days she has ever experienced on a drilling rig in Conklin, about a four-hour drive northeast of Edmonton.

“I remember standing on top of the compound, filling the boiler at 4 a.m. It was pitch black and minus forty, and I found myself thinking, ‘Wow, I’m actually doing this,’” says Whitford.

Months later, Whitford was back in Europe, helping a company transform itself ahead of a move into Asian markets.

“In 2015, I led the restructuring of a listed oil and gas company in the UK in preparation to acquire a portfolio of gas assets in South East Asia,” says Whitford.

However, her heart has always been with her community. Throughout her career, the late Métis businessman and Order of Canada recipient Herb Belcourt, who passed away in 2017, encouraged her work abroad to gain the skills and experience she needed and then come back to help First Nation and Métis communities in Canada.

“After the stock exchange, I was offered the opportunity to run a cost optimization program for a national oil company in Quito, Ecuador” says Whitford, who fell deeply in love with the country and saw an opportunity to work with Indigenous communities in the Amazon who had been impacted by the energy sector in the country.

Whitford spent three years working in the Ecuador when she received a call asking her to direct a $42 billion USD capital efficiency program in the Middle East.  Keen to experience the industry from that perspective, she jumped on the opportunity.

However, after a few years, the advice of her mentor Belcourt began to resonate with her, eventually leading Whitford back to Canada in 2019.

She asked herself: “What am I doing here, using my skills and experience to make this country even richer when I could be at home, helping my community.”

Now managing director of Alberta-based Canative Energy, Whitford is focused on “working hand-in-hand with Indigenous communities to facilitate their economic empowerment.”

Whitford acknowledges that returning to Canada has been difficult, as she had thought industry would have been further along in working alongside Indigenous communities.

Still keen to keep her international connections alive, Whitford recently created and facilitated a global exchange between First Nations, Métis, and Māori in a program called “INDIGI-X” where 22 Indigenous professionals from Canada and New Zealand worked together in month-long exchange and made recommendations to both the governments of Canada and New Zealand on economic exchange opportunities between our Nations.

“I’m still looking for right opportunity to use all I have learned to benefit industry, government and Indigenous communities here in Canada,” she says. “I love a challenge and I am ready for anything.”

Some of Jordan Jolicoeur’s fondest memories growing up were spent in the family truck, traveling from site to site with his brother and father in the early days of what today is known as Carvel Electric.

“I would jump off the bus and get right into the truck with the family and we would dream big of what our family business could be,” says Jolicoeur.

The 31-year-old is president of Métis-owned Carvel Electric, based in Stony Plain, Alberta, which has grown from a small family business into a team of 14 that now works for major corporate clients such as CP Rail, Suncor Energy, and Trans Mountain.

“We have been working on the Trans Mountain pipeline facilities since 2016, which has allowed us to source work with the expansion project that is currently under construction,” he says.

Carvel is working on the Trans Mountain project in Alberta from Edmonton to Jasper and has won two contracts to work on the Acheson and Enoch Cree pipe stockpile sites.

“We had 100 per cent Indigenous work teams performing this work that brought security systems and lighting to these pipeyards,” says Jolicoeur, adding Carvel’s partnership with Trans Mountain illustrates the company’s commitment to working with Indigenous businesses.

“They (Trans Mountain) don’t just say they are committed to working with Indigenous companies, they act on that in a way that is very meaningful.”

Carvel’s work with Trans Mountain marks the company’s first foray into the energy sector, a transition that was helped along by the company’s experience working as a preferred vendor for CN and CP Rail.

“What I experienced through being able to go to work with these companies as an Indigenous company was something I wanted other Indigenous people to experience as my quality of life has vastly changed,” says Jolicoeur.

“Of the fourteen on the Carvel team, twelve are Indigenous,” says Jolicoeur. “We have team members who are members of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Cold Lake First Nation, Blood Tribe, Paul First Nation, and Peavine Métis Settlement.”

“Carvel is about creating opportunities for Indigenous people to better their lives, which is why when we were building the business our first apprentice that we ever hired was a man from Paul First Nation,” says Jolicoeur

Jolicouer, who in 2018 was named National Aboriginal Youth Entrepreneur of the Year by the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business, says he’s proud to be a successful Métis business owner and is happy to see growing interest in the Indigenous group’s unique history and culture.

“There is a broad resurgence of Métis pride across Canada, which was instilled in me from my father. He (Jolicoeur’s father) is a Michif speaker (Métis Language) and proud jigger (Métis dance) who has always held an incredible amount of pride for Métis culture,” he says.

The Métis are an Indigenous cultural group of people unique to Canada that grew out of European and Indigenous contact.

Jolicoeur acknowledges that the Métis have sometimes in the past been scared to be who they are, but there was a pivotal moment for him that started changing that narrative.

“Some of the best hockey I’ve ever played in my life was at Native Provincials growing up, and that was the start of something amazing.”

Jolicoeur says that seeing Indigenous hockey players at such an elite level was an empowering moment of proving to himself that Indigenous doesn’t mean “less than” anything.

That sentiment is built into the DNA of Carvel, which built a focused hiring strategy that has resulted in the large majority of his team being Indigenous, all of whom operate at a high level of performance.

Using that philosophy as a core value has helped Carvel Electric make inroads for Indigenous business across Alberta, and the company was recently honored with a 2020 “Alberta Business Award of Distinction” for its history of incorporating intercultural relations and Indigenous values and culture into its operations.

During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jolicouer says Carvel was hit hard by stop-work orders issued by major companies but was still able to find opportunities to keep its workers busy while other companies had no choice but to furlough employees, or even fold altogether.

“It was a challenging first three months, but we have an amazing relationship with another company who was able to use our team to work on some of their projects that weren’t shut down,” he says.

The desire to create opportunity for Canada’s Indigenous people was imprinted early on Alicia Dubois, whose father took his family from Ontario into the heart of Alberta’s oil sands in search of a better life.

Dubois was named Chief Executive Officer of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation, a new provincial crown corporation that aims to break down long-standing economic barriers, such as access to capital, that Indigenous communities and businesses experience when seeking opportunities to participate in the economy.

Born in Ontario, her father came from Algonquin roots. In the 1970s, he travelled to Fort McMurray, Alberta’s oil sands capital, and landed a job with Syncrude.

After Dubois’ father made it through the first six months required to have the company sponsor his family’s move, Alicia made the trek with her mom from Ontario to Fort McMurray in February of 1978.

“It was cold,” she says with a laugh, “but we really loved Fort McMurray. The city was full of people who came from all over the country and world to work, so it was easy to make friends and build a sense of community as we were all strangers to the then small town.”

More than 40 years after her family made that trek across the country in search of opportunity, Dubois sees much of the same hurdles her father faced still prevalent today.

“The single largest challenge in addressing Indigenous poverty in Canada is unequal access to capital and the economy,” says Dubois. “Gaining access to capital to gain ownership in significant projects is nearly impossible for Indigenous communities.”

It’s a problem Dubois saw firsthand in a previous role, as a member of CIBC’s executive.  She and her team led the rewriting of CIBC’s Indigenous lending guide, redefining how the bank approached security and structuring credit for Indigenous clients.

“Indigenous business is often viewed, inaccurately, as high-risk business.  It was eye-opening to many of my colleagues to see the business my team was booking and to also see how resilient our First Nation clients were as COVID-19 hit,” she says.

“We had a number of First Nation clients with significant credit authorizations amounting to upwards of $75 to $100 million and due to strong collateral and credit structures, none were close to breaking their loan conditions.”

“I was very proud to see the strength of Indigenous business – it is an effective way to break down stereotypes and biases.”

That confidence in Indigenous entrepreneurship is at the heart of the AIOC’s mission.

Since joining the agency in September, Dubois says seeing the degree to which Indigenous communities and businesses want to participate in the Alberta economy has been very inspiring.

“We don’t lend money,” she says of the AIOC, “But what we do to support Indigenous access to the economy is game changing for Indigenous communities across Alberta.”

The AIOC offers Indigenous groups loan guarantees in pursuit of equity investment in commercially viable natural resource projects ranging in value from $20 million to $250 million, says Dubois.

The AIOC also offers capacity grants which ensures Indigenous groups, that are working though the formalities of their potential investments in projects, have access to relevant professional advisory services that will allow them to make independent decisions and engage in informed negotiations with industry.

In September, Dubois announced the organization’s first financial contribution to an Indigenous venture, a $93 million investment by six central Alberta First Nations into the $1.5 billion Cascade Power Plant project under construction about 220 kilometres southwest of Edmonton.

Prior to landing in the financial industry, Dubois’ professional life was diverse, winding through law, social services and energy.

Completing a degree in neuoroscience at the University of Lethbridge, Dubois was accepted into law school at the University of Toronto. After earning her degree she spent some time with Alberta Justice before making a life-changing move to Calgary-based utility ENMAX.

“I had my eyes opened at ENMAX in 2009 when they sent me to Antarctica on an environmental expedition with energy executives and environmental NGO leaders from around the world to learn about alternative energy,” she says.

It was that experience with ENMAX that prepared Dubois for another life-changing opportunity that opened the door for her to learn more about the global view of development, including attending the 2009 United Nations review of the Kyoto Protocol in Copenhagen.

“It was not just government officials from UN member states that were exercising complex concepts and advocating based on their experience, but Indigenous peoples of the world were actively doing the same,” she says.

“I am proudly Indigenous to begin with but during my time in Copenhagen I was proud, and saddened, and somehow relieved to see the issues around being Indigenous was not just a Canadian experience. Their message was the same that I hear in Canada – Indigenous Peoples want to regain their rightful place in political systems and governance, the economy and society.   It was a profoundly powerful experience.”

And now in her new role with the AIOC, Dubois sees the agency’s potential to support meaningful, multi-generational improvements for Indigenous people, an opportunity she says was impossible to pass up.

“This is a purposeful, impactful mandate that speaks to how I want to contribute to Indigenous wellbeing.  I couldn’t be better placed to drive meaningful change.”

Tom Jackson has watched his small northern Alberta First Nation evolve into a community with a growing economy thanks to abiding relationships with the energy industry.

Jackson, who lives on the Goodfish/Whitefish Lake First Nation, is CEO of the Goodfish Lake Business Corporation, which is 100 per cent-owned by the band some 200 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.

Even amid a global pandemic, the community has seized on economic opportunities, and Jackson is deeply aware how important those partnerships forged with oil and gas companies have been to his nation’s success.

“Syncrude and Suncor have been incredible partners for our nation for over thirty years and has benefited nearly every single one of our members,” says Jackson.

The Indigenous business leader reflects on how much has changed for the community since he left in the late 1970s, and takes pride that he has been able to come back to the reserve to help carve out a prosperous future.

“When I came back to Alberta, the most noticeable change has been the growth of First Nation owned businesses – there’s everything now,” says Jackson.

“Goodfish/Whitefish has a total membership of 2400 with nearly 1800 who call the reserve home.

“This high percentage of people on reserve speaks to the amount of opportunity our members have in and around the nation.”

Over the years, Jackson said, many members have lived in and around Fort McMurray and been employed by the energy sector, says Jackson.

Jackson spent time mining uranium in Saskatchewan, coal in British Columbia, and working for the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool in his long and winding career, which made him a perfect fit to come back to lead his community’s business corporation.

Jackson said the most impactful role he had, however, was when he worked for English River First Nation in Saskatchewan as CEO of their construction company.

“Being CEO at that company taught me how to work with industry in a way that creates positive relationships for both First Nation and industry partners.”

It was that position as CEO at English River that ended a four-decade journey for Jackson, which heralded his return home to Goodfish/Whitefish to lead this company.

“I started in February and only a few weeks into my role as CEO, COVID-19 hit, and our community responded extremely well,” he says.

Goodfish Lake Business Corporation is comprised of its cattle ranch, one of Canada’s largest dry-cleaning and laundering facilities, and its garment facility – Goodfish Lake Garment Manufacturing. That facility has partnered with energy giant Syncrude and Suncor for 30 years producing overalls and coveralls for their workers.

In response to the global health crisis, the garment facility pivoted to manufacture several different models of non-medical cloth face masks, which have benefitted not only Jackson’s community, but the neighbouring Kikino Métis Settlement and other First Nations as far away as British Columbia.

“We have created over 250,000 masks with the majority of them going to our partners at Suncor and Syncrude, but also have benefited Alberta’s school children, and our neighbours at Beaver Lake First Nation and Kikino [Métis Settlement],” Jackson said.

“We didn’t have to lay anyone off due to COVID-19, rather, in order to fulfill these new retail orders, the garment factory hired new staff and paid a lot of overtime in order to meet this new demand.”

Jackson, with some pride, says the garment facility employs over 100 workers, over 90 per cent of whom are Indigenous, not only from Goodfish/Whitefish but neigbouring communities as well.

One of those workers who has played a key role in making the protective masks is a veteran of the community’s garment facility, Vivian Jackson, a member of Goodfish/Whitefish First Nation.

“We take pride in knowing that we are helping others in our community and within the energy industry,” says Vivian, who’s the garment facility’s assistant manager.

“Oil and gas has supported us and our community and I am very proud to know that my work is helping people across Canada.”

She remembers her first day in 1983, when the garment factory occupied several rooms in the old schoolhouse. The operation now occupies a 10,000 sq ft building with dozens of workers.

The energy industry, she says, has provided her with steady and continuous employment at the facility for nearly 37 years.

“Syncrude has always been a customer of ours and has helped my family pay off many things in our life,” Vivian says.

“And my daughter, who works at the band office, and son, who is a nine-year red seal millwright who works in energy, have had the chance to do whatever they want in their career.”