Drumbeats - Canadian Indigenous Investment Podcast

Drumbeats - Canadian Indigenous Investment Podcast

by Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum
EntrepreneurshipInvesting
Season 1
The Trillion Dollar Agenda Runs Through Indigenous Land
Canada's $1 Trillion Investment Agenda Runs Through Indigenous Land. As the Canada Investment Summit opens in Toronto next week, this special episode of Drumbeats explains why. The Rt Hon Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, has called shared leadership with Indigenous peoples central to building the major projects now targeted for investment. No pipeline, mine, port or energy project can proceed without the consent and partnership of the Indigenous communities whose territories they cross, a requirement mandated by the Supreme Court of Canada without exception. This episode brings together voices recorded at the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit, held in the City of London in April 2026: Indigenous leaders, institutional investors, senior bankers and government officials, all speaking to how Indigenous partnership actually gets structured, financed and delivered. For UK and European institutional investors watching Toronto next week, this is the other half of the story, and the one that determines whether commitments become completed projects. The Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit returns to the City of London on 27 April 2027. Registration is open at canadianindigenousinvestmentforum.org.
S1 · E95
Sep 8, 2026
12:35
Why Growth and Indigenous Rights Are Not Competing Interests
Economic growth, investment certainty and Indigenous rights sit on one pathway, not three competing priorities to weigh against each other. In the second of two conversations, Kluane Adamek, Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council to Canada's Major Projects Office, sets out why. Adamek also sets out what she would say to an asset manager in London, a pension fund in the Netherlands, or a corporate development team in Frankfurt approaching Canada for the first time. Community wellbeing and prosperity go together, and moving beyond consultation is where a durable partnership gets built. Indigenous nations, in her framing, are governments, investors, partners and nation builders. The first conversation established how the Council secured an extension to a proposed thirty-day engagement window, and what that means for how certainty gets built into a project timeline.
S1 · E94
Sep 1, 2026
37:13
What Actually Triggers Federal Advice On A Resource Project
Federal timelines, community readiness and investor certainty sit on one pathway, not three competing clocks. In the first of two conversations, Kluane Adamek, Chair of the Indigenous Advisory Council to Canada's Major Projects Office, sets out why. A recent piece of federal legislation shows what that pathway looks like in practice. Adamek recounts the Council pushing to extend a proposed one-month engagement period, an intervention with a direct bearing on how much trust a process can build before a decision is made. For a project finance banker in London, an infrastructure fund manager in Amsterdam, or a sector coverage banker in Paris, the lesson is that a thirty-day engagement window is a starting point for negotiation rather than a hard deadline. A nation's answer of "yes, but not right now" functions as a planning signal, and the fastest route to certainty runs through relationships and shared information ahead of a compressed timeline. The Council's role, in Adamek's own framing, is helping the government build the relationships with rights holders that create certainty and lead to better decisions. The second conversation continues with a wider view of what Indigenous partnership means for investors approaching Canada for the first time.
S1 · E93
Aug 25, 2026
29:24
Interprovincial Transmission: Indigenous Ownership and Grid Modernisation
Thirty First Nations along a transmission line. Kwatuuma Cole Sayers, co-founder and executive director of the Indigenous Power Coalition, explains how coordinated collective ownership de-risks major infrastructure. Canada is entering one of the largest electricity infrastructure build-outs in its history. Major transmission projects cross dozens of First Nations territories. Historically, projects stall because sponsors negotiate with ten, twenty, thirty separate Indigenous counterparties instead of one aligned owner. Kwatuuma convenes First Nations as collective owners in major transmission infrastructure, moving them from passive participants to project proponents on their own terms. This changes the capital structure. When First Nations sit as coordinated equity holders, execution risk for sponsors shifts dramatically. Capital providers see governance aligned with long-dated pension fund thinking. Interprovincial transmission coordination barriers that have stalled projects for years become solvable. The episode covers how First Nations collective ownership de-risks transmission projects, why counterparty alignment matters more than capital availability, and the Western Transmission Catalyst Initiative's approach to provincial coordination problems. For DCM originators, leveraged finance teams, infrastructure fund managers, and transmission project sponsors, this addresses how Indigenous partnership structures become deal enablers rather than project complications. Explore the Indigenous Power Coalition: www.indigenouspowercoalition.ca
S1 · E92
Aug 18, 2026
32:57
Arctic Infrastructure: $32B, Indigenous-Led, and Canada's First Deep-Water Port
Arctic infrastructure: $32B in defence spending meets Indigenous-led road to Canada's first deep-water port. Two CEOs from the Northwest Territories. Canada's Arctic is entering a multi-decade infrastructure cycle. The federal government has committed $32 billion in defence spending across the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Labrador, while the proposed Arctic Economic Security Corridor would build the first all-season road from Yellowknife towards the Arctic coast, connecting to the Grays Bay Road and Port Project to establish Canada's first deep-water port on the Northwest Passage. Paul Gruner, CEO of the Tłı̨chǫ Investment Corporation, and Mark Lewis, President and CEO of Det'on Cho Management LP, lead the economic development arms of the two Indigenous nations co-leading the Arctic Economic Security Corridor. In this episode, recorded live at the London Stock Exchange during the third annual Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit, they explain how the closure of the Diavik diamond mine has concentrated Northern economic strategy, why Indigenous proponents accelerate rather than impede major project timelines, and what the convergence of defence, critical minerals, and infrastructure means for institutional capital. Subscribe to the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum newsletter for weekly intelligence on Indigenous investment opportunities across Canada
S1 · E91
Aug 11, 2026
24:05
North America's First Indigenous Bond: $200M, New Asset Class, New Capital Stack
BMO's $200M indigenous bond was materially oversubscribed. A $10B federal loan guarantee is reshaping Canada's project capital stack. Two architects explain. BMO Capital Markets issued the first labelled indigenous bond by a North American bank, a CAD $200 million instrument that was materially oversubscribed and has since won Environmental Finance's Social Bond of the Year. In this episode, John Uhren, Global Head of Sustainable Finance at BMO, explains the investor demand and what it means for future issuance. Jolain Foster, Managing Partner of Nation Building at Deloitte Canada, describes how her practice prepares Indigenous nations to reach final investment decisions as equity partners, not consultation participants. She outlines the capacity-building roadmap that proponents are now funding directly. Recorded in the City of London during the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit 2026, this conversation covers: the $10 billion federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee Programme and the provincial programmes operating alongside it; why proponents increasingly treat Indigenous communities as preferred co-investors; how Indigenous equity participation de-risks permitting and accelerates project timelines; and the emerging structures through which nations are accessing international capital markets.
S1 · E90
Aug 4, 2026
31:39
Zero Defaults, C$4B Issued: Inside Canada's Indigenous Bond Market
C$4B+ in Indigenous debentures issued. C$10B in federal loan guarantees deployed. Two CEOs explain the capital architecture behind it. Canada's Indigenous capital markets infrastructure has reached a scale that institutional investors can no longer overlook. In this episode, recorded at the City of London during the third Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit, Ernie Daniels, President and CEO of the @firstnationsfinanceauthority and Kristan Straub, President and CEO of the Canada Indigenous Loan Guarantee Corporation (CILGC), explain the mechanics of two institutions now operating at billions of dollars of deployment. The FNFA has issued more than C$4 billion in debentures since 2014, backed entirely by First Nations' own source revenues, with investment-grade credit ratings from Moody's, DBRS Morningstar, and S&P. The CILGC, backed by C$10 billion in federal guarantee capacity, has completed its first transactions, including a C$400 million guarantee supporting 38 First Nations' equity acquisition in a major gas pipeline. Topics covered include FNFA's pooled borrowing model and bond issuance programme, the CILGC guarantee structure and deal pipeline, how international capital can participate alongside Indigenous equity partners, and the revenue transformation underway in First Nations communities. Essential listening for infrastructure finance, DCM, and leveraged finance professionals evaluating Canadian opportunities.
S1 · E89
Jul 28, 2026
37:02
Indigenous Projects Outperform. The Market Hasn't Asked Why.
The City of London manages approximately 13% of global assets under management, representing an estimated 25 to 30% of internationally movable capital. When Sean Willy, President and CEO of the Des Nedhe Group, sat down with Professor Michael Mainelli, founder of Z/Yen (the City's leading commercial think tank) and Emeritus Gresham Professor of Commerce, at the London Stock Exchange during the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit, the conversation turned to a question institutional investors rarely ask: why do Indigenous-partnered projects consistently outperform? Sean Willy leads English River First Nation's economic development corporation, which has grown from a single construction business into a portfolio of 24 companies spanning resources, construction, defence, and property development across North America. Des Nedhe now operates with an independent board of directors, majority female and majority Indigenous, and is actively engaging European investors, particularly in the defence sector. Willy describes the deal structures that have enabled Indigenous-led growth, including free-carry equity participation models where project proponents structure Indigenous involvement without requiring capital contributions from the First Nation partner. Professor Mainelli, who hosted the inaugural Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit at Mansion House during his year as the 695th Lord Mayor of the City of London, brings over three decades of commercial analysis in the Square Mile through Z/Yen. He argues that Indigenous governance models, with their emphasis on multi-generational stewardship and stakeholder alignment, are now finding support in mainstream economic theory, particularly through the concept of land value capture. His comparison of the City of London Corporation, the world's oldest continuous democratic cooperative dating to 640 AD, with First Nations governance structures offers a framework that will resonate with European institutional audiences. The conversation also examines how new capital infrastructure, including the federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee Programme (now CAD 10 billion), provincial guarantee programmes, the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and the First Nations Finance Authority, has created systematic mechanisms for Indigenous equity participation at an institutional scale. Recorded live at the City of London during the third annual Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit.
S1 · E88
Jul 21, 2026
25:13
Teachers' Is Leaning In: A Maple 8 Fund on Indigenous Deal Flow in Canada
C$280bn fund building Indigenous relationships in Canada. OTPP's Robert Sturgeon and Suncor director JP Gladu on deal flow and a half-trillion pipeline. Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan manages nearly C$280 billion on behalf of 350,000 members and deploys roughly 30% in Canada. Senior Managing Director Robert Sturgeon tells Drumbeats about how the fund is prioritising building Indigenous relationships and better understanding the ecosystem, opportunities and challenges, as well as the interest they are seeing for investment in Canada. JP Gladu, Principal of Mokwateh and a Suncor Energy board director, sits on the Prime Minister's Major Projects Office Indigenous Advisory Committee, an 11-member body evaluating roughly C$500 billion in approved projects. Recorded at the third annual Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit at the City of London, this conversation covers: how Suncor's East Tank Farm enabled two First Nations to acquire a 49% equity stake in a billion-dollar-plus asset, why Indigenous partnership now lowers cost of capital and accelerates regulatory timelines, what the Major Projects Office is doing to clear seven federal ministries' worth of bottleneck, and how BHP applies Indigenous engagement principles across its C$14 billion Jansen potash project and global operations.
S1 · E87
Jul 14, 2026
29:44
From 2 to 200 Listed Companies: Scaling Indigenous Capital Markets
Indigenous capital markets, institutional deal flow, and a 2-to-200 listed company gap: TMX Group CEO John McKenzie and CIBC's Lisa Raitt. John McKenzie, CEO of TMX Group, and the Hon. Lisa Raitt, Vice Chair at CIBC Capital Markets, sit down with Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant during the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit 2026. McKenzie quantifies the scale of the opportunity: two Indigenous-led companies are currently listed on Canadian exchanges, against a proportional target of 150 to 200. Raitt argues that the deals Indigenous communities are presenting to institutional investors are resource, energy, and infrastructure transactions evaluated on the same commercial terms as any other proponent. The conversation covers the capital stack now forming around Indigenous projects, including federal loan guarantees, the FNFA debt programme, and the first exchange-listed equity vehicles, alongside TMX Group's reconciliation-linked index data showing 20 years of outperformance among committed companies.
S1 · E86
Jul 7, 2026
28:00
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