Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Day 2 at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition’s 8th Annual Conference included an announcement on a new paper addressing the building of Indigenous-owned electrical utilities in Canada, a remote Market Open ceremony of the Toronto Stock Exchange from the session floor, and a keynote from Hydro Québec’s CEO Michael Sabia.
Unveiled by Jesse McCormick, senior VP of Research, Innovation, and Legal Affairs, FNMPC, the research presented in “Indigenous Utilities Paper: The Building of Indigenous-Owned Electrical Utilities in Canada,” takes the pulse of Indigenous utilities on both sides of the Canada-US border. Drawing on insights from existing Indigenous-owned utilities and other field experts, it explores why Indigenous nations may form a utility, a range of possible Indigenous utility models, as well as what the barriers, challenges and risks may be.
Before ringing the bell to open the Toronto Stock Exchange, CEO John McKenzie addressed attendees, saying the TMX exists to make markets better, to empower bold ideas, and that “we’re not doing it well enough if we’re not doing it for indigenous business as well.
“It’s built to support sustainable success, and I’m so excited about that opportunity to leverage that strength into further economic reconciliation and help Indigenous businesses prosper and succeed the same way so many Canadian businesses have over the years.”
McKenzie emphasized that reconciliation in finance must move beyond intention to action, creating real pathways for Indigenous businesses to access investment, scale, and succeed. He highlighted TMX’s commitment to fostering Indigenous inclusion across its platforms, noting that Canada’s markets have historically funded national growth and must now drive Indigenous prosperity too.
In his keynote address, Sabia said that the energy transition is an opportunity to agree to achieve greater social and economic fairness and at the same time to get important things done in Canada, “And that seems to us to be a path that’s worth pursuing.
“At Hydro-Quebec, we believe, we believe that enduring, effective partnerships have to be built on the foundations of economic reconciliation. Now for us, that idea means a number of things. It means resolving the past. It means ensuring communities have a voice in the development and design of projects. It means addressing issues around procurement and employment opportunity. It’s a big, inclusive concept, and at its core, of course, our financial partnerships so that we can more reasonably than we have in the past, share the economic value of energy development.”
Featured image: Mark Podlasly, CEO of FNMPC (centre) and TMX Group CEO John McKenzie (left) at the remote Market Open ceremony, April 29, 2025. (FNMPC)
