Mr. Speaker, with regard to the policies of the Canada Infrastructure Bank, or CIB, concerning funding for the indigenous community infrastructure initiative, or ICII, and the indigenous equity initiative, or IEI, broken down by fiscal year since the inception of the CIB, please refer to the attached annex.
Please note that the CIB made the following interpretations. With respect to parts (a) and (b) of the question, regarding funding delivered, the CIB interpreted “funding delivered” to represent the total capital allocated to projects that have achieved financial close as of February 15, 2024. As of February 15, 2024, the CIB has committed a total of $312.2 million towards 11 projects, benefitting 59 indigenous communities under the ICII and IEI, which will be deployed over a period closely resembling each respective project’s construction timeline. The CIB’s long-term target is to invest at least $1 billion in projects that benefit indigenous communities in Canada.
On February 15, 2024, the CIB announced an investment commitment of $138.2 million to support the development of Atlantic Canada’s largest planned energy storage project by Nova Scotia Power Inc., or NS Power, in collaboration with Wskijinu'k Mtmo'taqnuow Agency Ltd., or WMA, an economic limited partnership owned by 13 Mi’kmaw communities. Under the terms of these arrangements, NS Power, Nova Scotia’s main electricity provider, will receive a loan of up to $120.2 million, while WMA will receive an equity loan of up to $18 million. The project, which is subject to regulatory approval, involves the construction and deployment of energy storage facilities in the communities of White Rock, Bridgewater and Waverley. CIB’s equity loan to WMA is its first under the IEI. The IEI fills a market gap by providing indigenous communities access to capital and opportunities to invest in infrastructure projects across Canada.
To date, $77.4 million of the capital committed to ICII and IEI has been deployed, and $234.8 million remains available for use by the project partners.
In addition to the direct ICII and IEI loans to date, the CIB is supporting indigenous infrastructure through project acceleration funding as well as CIB involvement in projects that help to enable indigenous participation in those projects.
With respect to part (c) of the question,the CIB has interpreted the question to be in reference to amounts previously outlined in questions (a) and (b), and not the entire CIB portfolio. Information related to total funding delivered through each of the CIB’s priority industry sectors for the entire portfolio can be found directly on the CIB website, https://cib-bic.ca/en/about-us/reports-and-transparency/, as part of quarterly and annual financial reporting.