Thank you.
The First Nations Major Projects Coalition, FNMPC, is a member-driven organization with more than 200 first nation members. These remarks draw on FNMPC's research and experience in electrification, but they do not speak on behalf of our members or other rights holders.
FNMPC's “National Indigenous Electrification Strategy” shows that Canada can meet its electrification expansion goals only with a major build-out of clean power and transmission. That build-out must include clear opportunities for indigenous nations to lead, partner in and own that infrastructure with free, prior and informed consent and in alignment with Canada's United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
I will address each of the committee's core study areas briefly and in order.
First is clean energy technologies. For first nations, the full potential of new clean energy infrastructure includes leadership, partnership and ownership in electricity generation, transmission, storage and utility assets. These opportunities can create stable revenues, local employment and greater control over development on indigenous traditional territories. Canada's clean electricity build-out will require major expansion in hydro, wind, solar, geothermal, storage, transmission and others. Indigenous-led and indigenous-owned infrastructures in these areas will be critical to connecting new clean power to load centres while simultaneously advancing economic reconciliation and economic growth.
Second is peak power demand. Peak power demand is becoming a central challenge as electrification accelerates across housing, transportation, industry and remote energy systems. For first nations, this challenge is also an opportunity to lead and participate in solutions such as battery storage, demand-side management, distributed solar and microgrids. FNMPC's paper entitled “‘It is Our Time’: Indigenous-Led Transmission Lines”, available on our website, fnmpc.ca, reinforces that new transmission lines and interties, inter-regional transmission, are part of the solution to peak demand because they improve grid capacity and connect regions. Our transmission paper also asserts that first nations should have the lead role in identifying priority corridors where transmission will be built.
Third is diversification and industry development. Governments have an important role in market diversification in creating the policy certainty, procurement frameworks and financing tools needed to scale clean electricity. For first nations, this role should include measures that support indigenous ownership rather than limiting participation to short-term contracting or consultation. In the context of first nations electricity infrastructure ownership, industry development should be understood as including first nations-owned utilities, independent power production by first nations, first nations-led transmission projects and first nations equity positions in major electricity projects.
Fourth is the importance of the clean electricity sector. Electrification has become a core nation-building priority for Canada. That makes first nations electricity infrastructure ownership strategically important, not only to reconciliation but to whether Canada can build the scale of clean power required in time. For first nations, the importance of the sector is twofold. One, it is essential for emissions reductions. Indigenous nations have for decades been sounding the alarm over changes to their lands and waters related to climatic changes. Two, it is also a major economic opportunity tied to the ownership of electricity infrastructure needed for the transition. Doubling Canada's electricity grid cannot be achieved at scale without new transmission corridors and interties. Indigenous transmission is essential to this.
Fifth is public policies supporting electrification. Public policies that support electrification are effective only if implementation is timely and coordinated. For first nations, that means aligning infrastructure funding, regulatory approvals, timely procurement planning, utility planning and opportunities for indigenous leadership and ownership. Canada's policy implementation must address persistent barriers for first nations, such as access to capital, limited early-stage capacity funding, uneven utility relationships and weak support for indigenous-led utility development. Policies that ignore these realities risk repeating the exclusion of indigenous nations seen in past industrial build-outs in Canada.
Sixth is energy self-sufficiency and energy security. For many first nations, energy security means reducing reliance on imported fuels such as diesel, improving electricity reliability and ensuring that infrastructure decisions reflect first nation community priorities. Indigenous leadership and ownership are central to this work because they allow nations to shape development according to their own priorities for their nation members and on their lands and waters.
FNMPC's indigenous-led transmission paper demonstrates that domestic energy security is partly a transmission issue. Stronger interties and indigenous-supported transmission lines in Canada can move clean power where it is needed, reduce regional vulnerability and create a more flexible system response during shortages or rapid demand growth.
Finally, there is respect for the jurisdictions of the provinces and territories. For first nations, respect for the jurisdictions of provinces and territories must be matched by respect for indigenous lands, waters, rights, title, treaties, law and decision-making authority. Electricity infrastructure often crosses traditional territories, which means project development depends on consent-based approaches that recognize first nations as rights holders of their lands and waters, as well as leaders and owners of electricity projects.
Thank you.