Advertise on podcast: Drumbeats - Canadian Indigenous Investment Podcast

Jonathan Broer, Managing Director at Origin Merchant Partners, sets out how an independent adviser helps a Nation find the best lender and the right lender, when so many banks and government programmes are set up to lend to Indigenous groups. Origin is an independent investment bank that, in Jonathan’s words, focuses only on advice. Jonathan joined in 2025 after more than 25 years as an investment banker and corporate executive, including at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, CIBC World Markets, Genuity Capital Markets and TD Securities. In this episode: How an independent bank differs from a big bank, which he says in many ways operates like a financial supermarketWhy independence gives more latitude to work alongside Indigenous and technical advisersWhy advice becomes even more important when a transaction brings in a global investor, or brings Nations together with government and private funding and a private sector partnerWhy loan guarantee programmes exist principally for Indigenous Nations, and how Nations are getting more sophisticated in knowing who to go toThe local knowledge a Canadian adviser brings, including who to speak to in government

Colby Delorme says some First Nations in Canada are approached with a new deal every day and can be given as little as three to eight weeks to assess it. In Part 2, the President of the Imagination Group of Companies sets out how nations decide which partnerships to pursue. He describes the signals a nation reads in a first meeting, why engagement should begin at the planning stage, and why he expects Indigenous participation to move towards ownership, with risk, profit and decision-making shared. Asked what would most surprise a sponsor or lender in London or Frankfurt, Colby points to the time horizon. Many joint venture organisations look to an exit five to ten years out. A rare earth minerals project may be planned to supply the world for 50 or 100 years, and the nation hosting it weighs the lasting impacts and opportunities across that life. He also traces many of today’s greatest issues back to governance, from First Nations to global corporations. Part 1 covers the scale of Indigenous equity deals in Canada, how nations are financing their stakes, and who holds the liability on large projects.

Indigenous equity deals in Canada tend to start at C$300 million, while most First Nations find it difficult to raise C$100 million, according to Colby Delorme. In the first of two conversations, the President of the Imagination Group of Companies sets out how nations are closing that gap. Some are going to market for financing of around C$500 million, at times as a group of nations. Others are building from a smaller base, with First Nations corporations acquiring businesses worth C$1 million to C$3 million to grow or scale them. For a project finance banker in London, an infrastructure fund manager in Amsterdam or a corporate development team in Frankfurt, the terms of an equity stake matter, including who holds the liability and how annual profit is determined. Colby’s advice to corporates is to build the relationship before bringing a contract to the table. His firm’s role, in his words, is helping Indigenous organisations strengthen their ability to make decisions, pursue opportunities and build sustainable futures on their own terms. The second conversation turns to how nations judge whether a partner is ready, and what would surprise a sponsor working with an Indigenous equity partner for the first time.

Canada's Pacific Link pipeline, the Trans Mountain Indigenous equity offer and LNG Canada's expansion give the Canada Investment Summit commitments their first implementation test. Mark Magnacca and Robert Brant work through the week of 28 September to 2 October 2026 for UK and European institutional investors watching Canada closely. They cover the one million barrel a day Pacific Link pipeline from Alberta to Roberts Bank in British Columbia, jointly led by Canada and Alberta, with Indigenous communities offered a minimum 10 per cent ownership interest through federal and Alberta loan guarantee programmes. They examine the collective 15 per cent Trans Mountain stake offered to 129 First Nations, roughly C$4 billion of public spending on Pacific Link over the next 11 months, and why Mark calls the project the litmus test for building quickly with everybody on board. They also assess LNG Canada's decision to double capacity to 28 million tonnes a year, the North Coast Transmission Line model of First Nations negotiating as one voice, and Canada's position between the United States, China and the European Union.

Nine First Nations Chiefs, nine different economies, in their own words. This special episode draws on the Drumbeats archive and our Summit stages in the City of London to bring together voices from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. Each Chief speaks for themselves and their own nation, not for First Nations as a whole, on getting deals done, what they look for in a partner, and where the money goes once a deal closes. Hear Crystal Smith, Chief Councillor of the Haisla Nation from 2017 to 2025, on the barriers to Cedar LNG and the mortgages that followed it. Ted Williams, Chief of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation, on the Scotiabank relationship that led to Rama's participation in Cedar Leaf Capital. Derek Epp, Chief of Tzeachten First Nation, on turning critical infrastructure into half a billion dollars a year in economic impact. Terry Paul, Chief of Membertou First Nation, on forty years of change. And more, including Tammy Cook-Searson, Ouray Crowfoot, David Jimmie, Don Maracle and Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer. These conversations come from our archive, so some roles and figures have moved on since. Titles are as they were when we spoke.

Canada's marginal effective tax rate on new business investment has fallen to 6.4% under the Productivity Mega Deduction. Finance Canada puts the equivalent United States rate at 16.9% and the United Kingdom at 30.2%. Prime Minister Carney announced the measure to over 100 of the world's largest investors at the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, which produced nearly C$500 billion in new investment commitments against a C$1 trillion five year ambition. Alongside it came private investment opening across Toronto Pearson, Montréal-Trudeau, Vancouver and Calgary airports, and a commitment to complete all regulatory reviews for major projects within one year. Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant take the week apart. The C$50 billion Maple Fund from CPP Investments and Brookfield. Bell Canada's C$50 billion Saskatchewan data centre expansion, partnered with George Gordon First Nation. Ernie Daniels of the First Nations Finance Authority among the Indigenous leaders Carney acknowledged. The Prime Minister's move on to Europe in the days that followed. Running through all of it is the question of execution, including scepticism over whether meaningful Indigenous consultation fits inside a twelve month clock.

Canada's trillion dollar investment agenda now has the prime minister's own words behind it. Opening the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto this week, Mark Carney told the room it is time to build big projects that transform and connect the economy, and that shared leadership with Indigenous peoples sits at the centre of that mission. More than 160 projects are on the table, but only 15 are described in the summit's own prospectus as shovel ready or fully permitted, among them the US$28.5 billion Ksi Lisims floating LNG terminal in northern British Columbia. Every one of those 160 projects crosses land where more than 500 First Nations hold constitutionally protected rights, and consultation with them is mandated by the Supreme Court of Canada without exception. Charles Morven of Nisga'a Lisims Government set out exactly how that consultation becomes a working partnership, alongside Ernie Daniels of the First Nations Finance Authority, Professor Michael Mainelli and Adam Matthews. Toronto has the ambition. This episode has the mechanism.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.