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Indigenous BUSINESS REPORT   37
INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
have played a critical role in enabling 
Indigenous equity participation in 
major projects,” Martineau says.
Since AIOC was established in 2019, 
it has helped pave the way for similar 
programs in Saskatchewan, Manitoba 
and British Columbia, alongside 
Ottawa’s Indigenous Loan Guarantee 
Program. Martineau says these 
programs reduce risk, lower borrowing 
costs, and make large-scale equity 
participation viable for Indigenous 
groups that would otherwise often be 
unable to participate.
“Given the size and complexity of nation-
building projects, loan guarantees will 
continue to be necessary. In many cases, 
this will require coordination across 
multiple provincial programs in part-
nership with the federal government 
to ensure sufficient capacity and scale,” 
Martineau says. She stresses that AIOC 
has supported projects comparable 
in complexity to major infrastructure 
undertakings in the past, and they fall 
well within the scope of work that has 
already been done. 
While loan guarantees are vital for 
these projects, they are only part of 
the solution. Other elements key to 
successful Indigenous participation 
include procurement opportunities, 
contracting, workforce development, 
and long-term relationship building. 
“Governments and organizations 
need to take a more holistic view of 
Indigenous participation,” Martineau 
says. “When economic partnership 
comes first, it fundamentally changes 
the conversation around employment, 
recruitment and community engage-
ment. This alignment creates shared 
interest and momentum that carries 
through the entire project lifecycle.”
BUILDING TRUE PARTNERSHIPS
Equitable First Nations partnerships 
with federal, provincial and munic-
ipal governments, and the private 
sector, are a foregone conclusion 
for ensuring many major infrastruc-
ture projects needed in Canada move 
forward. Gladu doesn’t mince words 
when taking note of this. “That's just 
going to be the way it is or projects 
will face uncertainty, time delays and 
blockades,” he says. “It’s the way of the 
world now, and that's a great thing for 
Indigenous communities.”
As well, adds Gladu, “The quicker the 
private sector embraces that, and the 
government empowers that through 
policy regulatory work and larger 
capital pools, the quicker we're going 
to be able to rebound to thwart off the 
geopolitical instability that our neigh-
bour to the south is creating.”
Another observation is that since the 
Trump administration’s onslaught of 
tariffs and demands to renegotiate 
aspects of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico 
Agreement (CUSMA), there’s been a 
stronger desire on the part of govern-
ment, the private sector and Indigenous 
Nations to build relationships. All have 
a critical role to play in determining 
how Canada advances forward. 
On the bright side, there is no shortage 
of examples of Indigenous ownership 
and oversight on infrastructure proj-
ects already in play across the country, 
notes Gladu. Indigenous communi-
ties have long been heavily involved in 
such projects, so there is promise for 
the future. “This is being done every 
month, every year, across this country,” 
he says, adding that if some of the basic 
principles were to be codified on how 
to better develop these projects with 
“Governments and organizations need to take a 
more holistic view of Indigenous participation. When 
economic partnership comes first, it fundamentally 
changes the conversation around employment, 
recruitment and community engagement.”
Chana Martineau, AIOC

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