A northwestern Ontario First Nation and an economic developer are leading a conference in Vancouver in December geared to advancing Indigenous economic participation and ownership in projects and developments, nationwide.
Tony Maunula, a member of Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, is the organizer behind the inaugural First Nations Investment Forum (FNIF) that’s being co-presented by the northwestern Ontario community and the Thunder Bay-based consulting firm, Horizon Seven.
Maunula has ties to both.
Maunula is the director of strategic initiative for the progressive community of 660, 135 kilometres west of Thunder Bay, and is also the principal of Horizon Seven, a consulting firm specializing in Indigenous-led community and organization initiatives.
Based on early ticket sales, Maunula is expecting 500 attendees for the event, which takes place over three days at the JW Marriott Parq in Vancouver, Dec. 8-10.
The forum is Maunula's creation.
Historically, First Nations have always been traders across in North America, he said. And they wanted to honour the ways of their ancestors and not be constricted by geographic and treaty limitations.
“That’s the impetus why an Ontario-based company and First Nation was looking at host a national conference in British Columbia.”
Billed as a “national platform connecting communities, capital and opportunity,” Maunula and the organizers have lined up an impressive list of prominent speakers to champion the cause of Indigenous economic participation, as well as assembling expert panellists to provide insight on Indigenous investment, partnerships and access to capital.
Meaningful economic involvement on major projects with reputable companies has always been a “pain point,” Maunula said, for his community and many others.
This is an event catered to First Nation investors, tribal councils, treaty organizations and other interested parties, to gather and network about specific investment opportunities from reputable proponents.
“Getting into a room with like-minded people that have similar agendas and want to develop projects, looking for investment, is really a very powerful thing. It’s something we wanted to leverage at this forum,” said Maunula.
Formulated as a pitch event, the forum will showcase First Nation-led and investment-ready opportunities in energy, infrastructure, real estate, gaming, AI, data storage and critical minerals in Ontario, British Columbia, Nova Scotia and elsewhere in Canada.
Event organizers reached out to various companies that are looking for First Nation involvement and support, equity involvement and investment, and encouraged them to send the project particulars to present at the forum.
“We may have resources to deploy, but the best opportunities are not always being presented to us. That’s why they wanted to stage a forum where that can occur,” said Maunula.
The Northern Ontario projects being spotlighted include the Ontario Transmission System Infrastructure, involving Hydro One, Wabun Tribal Council and Mattagami First Nation; the Port of Marathon, comprised of the Peninsula Harbour Port Authority Corp. and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation; and NexGold Mining (formerly Treasury Metals), known for its proposed Goliath open-pit mine project, east of Dryden.
Maunula said the community leadership at Lac des Milles Lacs has a keen interest in natural resources, energy and nation-building type of projects.
“We’re heavily involved in the resource development economy.”
The First Nation is an owner in a mill yard services company, catering to four different Resolute Forestry operations in northwestern Ontario.
Being situated in a regional hot spot for gold exploration led to Lac des Mille Lacs signing a term sheet with Gold X2 Mining (formerly Goldshore Resources) last May toward sealing an impact benefit agreement. The company is a prospective mine builder with a planned open-pit mine in the Shebandowan area.
The community is also involved in energy transmission as a partner in the Waasigan Transmission Line currently under construction in northwestern Ontario in tandem with other area First Nations and Hydro One Networks.
“We were probably one of the First Nations that led and executed Hydro One’s 50/50 equity model,” said Maunula.
On the community development side, Lac des Milles Lac operates a K-12 Education Centre in Thunder Bay, a “wildly popular” initiative with more than 400 students that includes a day care.
In unveiling the second batch of ‘nation-building’ projects this month, Prime Minister Mark Carney stressed full First Nation partnership and participation was “essential” if these developments were to succeed.
That’s encouraging and hopeful to Maunula in providing a “big lift” and sending the message of their approach of how the economy can accelerate the construction of major projects and provide prosperity for generations to come.
He notes the business climate from energy and natural resources companies in wanting to engage with First Nations has never been better. Companies know there are competitive advantages in partnering with First Nations.
In today’s political and social environment, governments are legislating that there must be Indigenous involvement in project development, and Maunula finds companies are going above and beyond in partnering on projects because they know First Nations have more financial resources and instruments available to them.
Maunula points to the growth of different loan guarantee programs at the provincial and federal levels. The B.C.-based First Nations Finance Authority is on the forefront, he said, in doing a “tremendous amount of lending” to First Nations and in offering the tools to help communities partner on projects.
“First Nations have always wanted to be part of the equation. Historically, they’ve been cut out of the conversation, cut out of ownership, cut out of the benefits.
“In the spirit of reconciliation through economics as well, that, politically, is as strong as ever. Socially, from Canadians and internationally, that’s as strong as ever, and companies know that in order to be competitive they need First Nations participation and even ownership in the opportunities and projects that they’re pursuing.”