Policy

From upcoming investment opportunities for First Nations, to the launch of new resources developed specifically to support capacity for Indigenous nations — The OCA Findings and Report delves into expert knowledge, experiences, and insights collected from the 7th Annual FNMPC Conference. the overall conference narrative of Indigenous consent bringing a competitive advantage demonstrated that Indigenous nations are poised to be at the helm of Canada’s current and future major projects.

The world is undergoing a massive economic and environmental shift, and the consent of Indigenous nations is pivotal to making sure Indigenous nations benefit and to advancing North America’s global economic market share.

Explore the OCA Conference Primer as it offers a window into what the contributions from experts at the conference will focus on. It spotlights groundbreaking projects and initiatives throughout Canada, the United States, and New Zealand, covering vital topics such as project governance, critical minerals, the energy transition, and empowering Indigenous ownership in major projects. With summaries of the conference’s highly anticipated keynote speeches, panel discussions, and featured models, providing readers with an in-depth understanding of the key themes leading up to the event.

The Indigenous Cultural Rights and Interests Toolkit (“ICRIT”, or the “Toolkit”) represents a series of integrated policy and technical guidance (“Tools”) for characterizing and exploring compensation for project-specific and cumulative effects on Indigenous cultural rights, in support of consent-based decision making on major projects and the protection and promotion of Indigenous cultural rights.

The shift from Indigenous participation to Indigenous leadership through active influence and Indigenous equity investment in major projects in Canada has accelerated in recent times. This shift has been at the behest of unrelenting Indigenous work and leadership, and more recently supported by capacity maturity, collaborative government supports, and increased capital market interest. However, the full benefit of Indigenous ownership and participation is being realized creating greater value not only for the Indigenous nations that are involved, but also for the projects and surrounding economy as a whole.

It’s clear that governments and enterprises ahead of the global transition are not just stepping up—they’re making strides towards impactful change in social, environmental, and economic spheres. A long-term strategy for these areas are recurring agenda items at the executive and board tables, and the intersection of these priorities is creating a dynamic ripple effect across leading forums.