Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 25th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

You have 30 seconds, Ms. Chan.

[Isabella Chan]

That question I would allow my colleagues at the Department of Finance to answer. Tax policy falls under their jurisdiction.

[Jonathan Rowe, Conservative, Terra Nova—The Peninsulas, NL]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Mr. Danko, you have five minutes.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I really appreciate this discussion this morning. It's very important information for our committee and for Canada as a whole. Thank you for being here.

My first question is a bit of an expansion on an earlier discussions on regulations and the regulatory process. You mentioned that mining is provincially regulated, but there are also national labour and environmental standards. Of course, Canadian industry, whether it's mining or refining, is probably some of the most environmentally friendly in the world and also has probably some of the highest worker protections in the world.

When we think about critical minerals, we often think about horrific working conditions and really low wages overseas. The regulatory process in Canada is often criticized as a barrier to development. I want to turn that around and ask you the question. How is the Canadian regulatory process that protects workers and protects the environment a competitive advantage for us and our allies around the world who are looking to make sure that they are investing in environmentally friendly and good working conditions?

[Isabella Chan]

In fact, many of our G7 allies are very seized with labour standards as well ESG standards. In fact, out of the G7 leaders' summit, there was the announcement of the critical minerals action plan. Their first pillar is creating a standards-based market to recognize that, in the Western world as well as among our G7 allies, our supply chain values the need to adhere to labour standards as well as ESG standards. That work is under way, and we are looking forward to working with the French presidency next year to continue to work in recognizing not only our regulatory standards but also labour practices as well.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you.

My second question goes back to some of your earlier comments on critical minerals being a really important part of our national security as a country. You also spoke about the opportunity for allies, G7 countries and allies around the world, to lean on Canada as they diversify their critical minerals supply chains.

I wanted to give you an opportunity to expand on that national defence aspect of developing critical minerals, and specifically, if there are any individual areas where we need to focus.

[Isabella Chan]

A number of critical minerals are dual use: They have a defence application—and I think of graphite—as well an application to green transition or battery storage. I also think about rare earth elements, whereby just under two pounds goes into an EV. A certain amount also goes into the production of F-35s. While the amount may seem insignificant compared to the whole production of an EV, it is essentially crucial to the production of that supply chain.

Rare earth elements have a highly concentrated supply chain. There are also export measures that have already been imposed. We are actively working with our project proponents as well as our allies to build the resiliency needed when it comes to the supply chain related to not only the defence application, but also green transition.

[John-Paul Danko, Liberal, Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON]

Thank you.

As global technology is rapidly evolving and the needs of industry around the world are also evolving, in, for example, the EV market, battery technology and that kind of thing, and it takes a certain amount of time from research and development to scaling production, how do we as a country scale what is needed in the market versus production?

How do we keep track of that and how do we make those investments based on what's actually needed in the global supply chain?

[Isabella Chan]

I think this is precisely why we developed the critical minerals list to look at what the world needs, what we are capable of producing and focusing our energy and resources in order to invest in the right types of projects, the right types of minerals, and to be that trusted supplier for the world.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Colleagues, that brings our time to an end.

I know I've learned a lot in this hour.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Excuse me, Mr. Chair—

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Can I have a quick point of order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Sure.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I just want to mention that Mr. Rowe asked a question to the officials regarding what the Liberal government might be up to in some respect.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Yes.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I would like to remind all members that officials are here are in a strictly non-partisan manner, and they don't represent the Liberal government in any way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

That's debate.

I will—

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

Mr. Chair, that's not a point of order.

I would like to submit written questions to the officials to facilitate the work of our analysts.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Yes.

[Mario Simard, Bloc, Jonquière, QC]

They will be forwarded quickly.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

I will now suspend, and we will welcome the next panel.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Welcome back, colleagues.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted on Thursday, September 18, the committee is commencing the study of development of critical minerals in Canada.

I'd like to make a few comments for the benefit of our witnesses. First of all, welcome to the Standing Committee on Natural Resources. Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. For those participating by video conference, click on the microphone icon to activate your mic, and please mute yourself when you are not speaking. We have one witness today who will be joining us virtually. I remind you that all comments should be addressed through the chair.

I would now like to welcome our witnesses on the second panel. From Commerce Resources Corp,, we have Cindy Valence, vice-president, sustainability and government affairs. From Corem we have Francis Fournier, president and CEO. From Vital Metals, we have Lisa Riley, CEO and managing director. From James Bay Joint Action Mining Committee, we have Régis Simard, general manager.

You will each have five minutes for your opening remarks.

Ms. Riley, we start with you. You have the floor.

[Lisa Riley, CEO and Managing Director, Vital Metals]

Dear committee members, thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today.

My name is Lisa Riley, and I'm the CEO of Vital Metals, owner of the upper zone of the Nechalacho project in the Northwest Territories. Nechalacho is one of the largest rare earth projects in Canada, with the potential for many decades of production. We're still doing further exploration to define even more resources.

The idea of an industry-led rare earth consortium came about because we realized we needed to work collaboratively, as industry partners, to bring creativity, innovation and expediency to shorten timelines for pilot and demonstration facilities and to expedite the commercial production of rare earths in Canada. Rare earths are some of the most complex elements to extract, process and separate, so we decided we would benefit from working together to come up with the most efficient green way to build a Canadian rare earth supply chain, from mines to permanent magnets for wind turbines, as one example. We're currently four industry partners: Vital Metals in the Northwest Territories, Commerce Resources in northern Quebec, Defense Metals in northern British Columbia, and Appia resources in northern Ontario and Saskatchewan. We have Corem, from Quebec, as a technology and process innovation partner, and March Consulting for engineering consulting, out of Saskatchewan. We have also engaged with many universities across the country to participate with us. We've engaged extensively and have support from provincial and territorial governments.

We're honoured to present our exciting initiative to you today. We hope we can follow through on our plans to build a pan-Canadian rare earth consortium.

[The Chair, Liberal, Terry Duguid]

Thank you.

Now we go to Ms. Valence. You have five minutes.