By Stephen Kishewitsch
It may come as a surprise to anyone who hasn’t been keeping an eye on it, but among First Nation and Métis peoples, the energy pot is beginning to bubble.
Starting with a few projects like Black River in the 1980s, First Nation and, increasingly, Métis communities are moving from simple job creation to project initiation and ownership in the energy sector. The provincial government, in its various departments and agencies, is taking wider and more meaningful steps to act on the Supreme Court-decided Duty to Consult. The Green Energy Act and Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-in Tariff program, once the details are finalized, are likely to uncork a whole suite of projects. The Electricity Sector Council, along with a good number of provincial utilities and others, is developing a training program to ensure that Aboriginal communities have the skills they need to get into the business. And there is appreciable money already at work, with a good deal more waiting for policies to be finalized, to get things moving.
Duty to consult and accommodate
The Supreme Court of Canada, and lower courts, have over the years issued a number of rulings stating that the various levels of government, as well as private companies operating under a government program, have a duty to consult with Aboriginal people whenever Crown decisions or actions have the potential to adversely affect existing and asserted Treaty or Aboriginal rights. The duty stems from the Honor of the Crown and is rooted in Section 35 of The Constitution Act, 1982, which recognizes and affirms the existing Aboriginal and Treaty rights of Aboriginal people of Canada.
The concept can be found detailed in a good many places, but one typical formulation includes:
• Consultation in a timely manner and in good faith;
• Sufficient information provided to the community in a timely manner so that they may have an opportunity to consider the information and develop a position; and
• The community having the opportunity to express its interests and concerns with serious consideration being given to these concerns.
At various points in the past a number of First Nations have complained that either they have not been consulted at all on matters that affect them, or that this has been done in a way that falls well short of the qualities just listed. Just this summer the United Chiefs and Councils of Manitoulin, in Georgian Bay in central Ontario, in evident frustration over such experiences, placed an announcement in the local newspaper saying that it would “no longer meet and have discussions with developers and proponents, and industry regarding projects in First Nations traditional and treaty territory.”
(See also “BC Native Chiefs call government’s Reconciliation Act ‘dead,’” in this issue.)
Typified in part by a statement of Energy Minister George Smitherman, who has said he wants to raise the bar on the duty to consult, the Ontario government has taken several initiatives. One is a New Relationship Fund, created under the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, to assist First Nation and Métis communities to develop their own capacity, both to deal with development proposals and government agencies and to reach out to their own community members.
As Pic River’s economic development officer Byron Leclair said in an interview, “Half our challenge is understanding what the developers are saying, the other half is relaying that message to community members.”
Hence, by June 8, 105 aboriginal communities in Ontario had had a total of $9,477,497 approved for that purpose, under the heading of Core Consultation Capacity under the New Relationship Fund (see “Capacity funding initiatives by the Government of Ontario”, in this issue, for details).
The Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure has set up its own unit to provide advice and guidance and to facilitate partnership opportunities with First Nations and Métis communities. Team members have been conducting meetings with First Nation communities, principally to bring them up to date on the Green Energy Act, since January. But the program is also to support broader capacity building, as well as feasibility and funding for specific projects. Communities need to understand energy sector development as well as how their own community uses energy, program manager Hillary Thatcher explains. Communities may need funding to develop the capacity to respond to energy initiatives, as well as to develop their own energy plans, including conservation.
Work is still underway on the capacity building program, and to an extent awaits finalization of the regulations and proclamation of the GEA and release of the FIT program. Discussion continues with First Nation and Métis leaders. The program will be administered by the Ontario Power Authority.
Personnel with a new department within the OPA have been very busy, travelling thousands of miles over the summer to meet with Native communities. “We will attempt to meet with every First Nation in regional meetings, and where appropriate and invited will go to individual First Nations,” says Director of First Nations and Métis Relations Brian Hay, with the mandate, under a Ministerial letter of September 17 of last year, to establish and maintain “enhanced” relations with First Nations and Métis throughout the province.
The focus of Hay’s work, with departmental Manager John Jeza, has been clarifying what the effect and opportunities of the GEA and the FIT program will be. It is also, however, to listen. Asked what First Nations and Métis leaders tell him, Brian Hay says, most importantly, they want to be respected. Next, they want to be involved in any planning at an early stage. A common complaint of theirs is that in the past proponents have come to them with plans in virtually final form, and are there to inform the community merely as a courtesy. In the future, it seems very unlikely that this style of communication will be tolerated again. First Nation communities have clear expectations as to how they want to be consulted, Hay says. Several of the treaty organizations (see backgrounder on First Nation organizations) and individual First Nations have formal protocol statements laying out how they expect to be approached. (See “Consultation Protocols”.)
Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation each have their own consultation policies, working at a high level on relationship building, internal education, promoting business and workforce development among First Nations and Métis people.
In Ontario, several Aboriginal organizations and communities intently participated as intervenors in the Integrated Power System Plan as they wanted to make certain that their issues and concerns would be addressed within the context of a twenty-year energy plan for Ontario and they wanted to identify creative and proactive solutions to address the capacity issues for Aboriginal communities at the local level, says Cherie Brant, with law firm Gardiner Roberts LLP.
“When the Green Energy Act was announced we were pleased that the Government was finding a way to crystallize the vision for increased Aboriginal participation in generation and transmission,” says Brant. “Now, we are just over one year since the IPSP was put on hold and the momentum is starting to rise again,” she adds.
Many communities expect to apply for the FIT procurement program and others expect to receive requests to partner in projects. Certain communities have also taken advantage of the New Relationship Fund and are using the funds to develop their own internal protocols for consultation, she adds, but the purpose is much greater than the policy itself. Brant explains that Aboriginal communities will increasingly take leadership positions in the power sector so long as there is an infrastructure in place that allows for participation, capacity building, mentoring and creativity. “When our firm works with communities on consultation protocols, our process is unique in that it is about instilling leadership at the community level and promoting, where possible, commonality between proponent’s objectives and the communities themselves.”
The evolution of project development
For the Pic River First Nation, it began some twenty or more years ago, with Black River, now known as the Wawatay Generating Station.
Back in 1980 when the Ministry of Natural Resources was awarding the right to develop that site, says economic development officer Byron Leclair, having a First Nation be part of a power generating project was unheard of. “I remember the invitation to evaluate the proposal. But our chief at the time said no, we’re going to submit our own proposal. That was the impetus for going ahead.”
Up to that point, participation in project development was typically in the form of some of the jobs the project afforded – construction, line maintenance, station operation. But once the stations are built, there aren’t a lot of jobs involved, Leclair says – five or six, typically. “Our goal at the time was to secure a non-governmental source of revenue. Our emphasis is on wealth creation, not job creation. These projects give us free cash that we can invest in community priorities.”
The Pic River First Nation now owns a minority interest in Black River. But beyond that, Pic River now has a holding company – the band office has sponsored a competition among school children to come up with suitable names for the company. The group recently purchased 100% of Kagiano Power, which will play an important role in developing two new hydro stations north of the community. Earlier this year, Pic River was awarded the rights to develop the High Falls Power Project and the Manitou Falls Hydro Project. Both of these sites are very close to the Kagiano Power Project and will use the Kagiano transmission lines to deliver power into the grid. The 23 MW Umbata Falls facility was commissioned in November 2008, and is fully owned by Pic River. Pic River also recently bought 100% of the 5 MW Twin Falls station. Another 10 megawatt project on the nearby Aguasabon River is in the works, in collaboration with the Pays Plat First Nation and Brookfield Power, and two wind power projects: a proposed 100MW Coldwell wind farm, northwest of Marathon, through a partnership with Brookfield Renewable Power, and the 10MW Superior Shores project.
All Pic River’s projects will form their own companies, under the to-be-named holding company. Kagiano Power is partly owned by the Anishinabek Nation through its secretariat, the Union of Ontario Indians, and its subsidiary company the Anishnabek Nation Management Group Incorporated (ANMGI).
“When we started out, we tried to arrange a $50,000 loan, it was impossible,” Leclair says. “Now they’re calling us.” The money comes from private investors, commercial lending institutions, a number of equity funds that want to place their money in various developments.
How did they get here from there? “One project at a time.”
Pic River is ahead of most First Nations in the country, but others are well on their way. Walpole Island, in the St. Clair River, has a 10MW wind farm in the works, with 51% ownership, and has entered negotiation with Hydro One to take over ownership of the distribution system on the island as well. Ownership will provide the community with lower rates for power.
The Lac La Croix First Nation in western Ontario has a project on another High Falls, on the Namakan River, under Ojibway Power and Energy Group, a partnership between Lac La Croix and Chant Construction Limited. Again, the project represents an evolution for the community: as Chief Leon Jourdain has said, “For far too long our people have been denied our place in the economy. It’s always at the expense of our people that developments happen around us, and that has to be a thing of the past. We take the position that the richness of this land that we all share must be equally shared by our people.”
OPG’s 12.5 MW Lac Seul generating station Obishikokaang Waasiganikewigamig in Ojibway, in partnership with the Lac Seul First Nation was commissioned in February 2009. Lac Seul owns 25%. OPG is actively pursuing commercial relationships with several other First Nation communities.
Now, with the GEA about to be proclaimed, and the FIT rules finalized, there is a number of possible additional projects that new First Nation entrants are considering. Some are close to shovels in the ground: the Chippewas of Georgina Island have been partnering with a developer for their Pukwis energy program, Dokis First Nation is working with Public Works Canada on a 10 MW run-of-river hydro project. Brian Hay, in a telephone conversation, quickly listed more with potential projects, some in more or less early stages of development, some just an interest: Serpent River, Wikwemikong, M’Chigeeng, Red Rock, White Sands, Nipissing, Henvey Inlet. The Anishinabek Nation has formed a transmission company. In April 2002 IPPSO FACTO carried a story on the Five Nations Energy company, which built and owns a 270 km long extension, the Omushkego Ishkotayo project, of Hydro One’s transmission line north from Attawapiskat on the shores of Hudson Bay.
Byron Leclair observes that, with the improved pricing under the FIT, along with the adder for aboriginal power, Pic River is looking at some projects they’ve passed over in the past.
Funding
In its 2009 budget, the province made provision for up to $250 million, in the hands of the Ontario Financing Authority, to serve as loan guarantees for First Nations that will need equity to enter into ownership discussions with project developers. See the related story, “Capacity funding initiatives by the Government of Ontario”.
Capacity building
Canada-wide, there is the potential for approximately 3000 to 4000 jobs to be created annually in the power sector, says Catherine Cottingham, Executive Director and CEO of the Electricity Sector Council (ESC).
In collaboration with Canada’s industry organizations the ESC has been working at a high policy level to develop programs to give First Nations and Métis the tools to build business partnerships and enhance employment linkages between Aboriginal people and the electricity and renewables industry. Discussions at this point involve consultation between employers, Aboriginal communities and government to identify goals, visions and opportunities for Aboriginal workers and communities in the sector and look at what these organizations need and are in a position to do. The ultimate objective is to develop a cohesive and integrated sector-wide Aboriginal engagement strategy and implementation plan that will increase the participation of Aboriginal peoples in the electrical industry workforce.
The ESC’s Aboriginal Participation Engagement Project is funded through the Sector Council Program of Human Resources & Skills Development Canada and its goal is to both increase Aboriginal peoples’ awareness of opportunities within the electricity and renewable sector and strengthen industry’s current efforts to employ Aboriginal people. In August, ESC held its pilot Aboriginal Youth Camp in Thunder Bay, Ontario in partnership with the Neighborhood Capacity Building Program. This camp was designed to bring attention to the opportunities for Aboriginal Youth in the electricity and renewable energy industry and the importance of taking math and sciences in school. Future camps will be held across Canada in 2010 and ESC will also be hosting a national Aboriginal Symposium, by invitation only, on 26th and 27th of November in Toronto, the results of which will tell key influencers where they should go next. One of those decisions will be determining the format for a pilot Adult Initiative. This could take the form of a pre-apprenticeship development program, similar to the one that Manitoba Hydro has in place – “or maybe something entirely new,” says Cottingham.
The ESC is an independent not-for-profit organization created in response to rising concern about the sustainability of a strong and skilled electricity and renewable energies workforce in Canada. It supports training and organizational development, and promotes the formation of roadmaps for developing key competencies. Recent projects include the development of occupational profiles (“occupational standards”), developed with input from industry stakeholders across the nation. Some of these standards include those for renewable energy sector – solar installers, thermal and photovoltaic, for example.
For more information please see the following related stories from this issue of IPPSO FACTO:
Consultation protocols
https://magazine.appro.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=702&Itemid=44
Treaty organizations and tribal councils
https://magazine.appro.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=703&Itemid=44
Capacity funding initiatives by the Government of Ontario
https://magazine.appro.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=701&Itemid=44
Copyright © 2009 by APPrO, the Association of Power Producers of Ontario (www.appro.org ) except for short passages excerpted from other sources. All rights reserved. Reprinting and electronic distribution only with permission and inclusion of this copyright statement.