Opinion: Why aren’t Indigenous peoples included in Canada’s fresh talk of energy development? – The Globe and Mail
April 4, 2025
National oil pipelines are dominating the conversation again. Canada has acknowledged the critical need to build major energy projects again. Politicians and energy proponents are speaking about pipelines long thought dead in the water. For instance, politicians are discussing Keystone XL and Energy East again. The new U.S. administration’s threats to impose tariffs on Canadian goods has suddenly made Canadians realize our trade vulnerability and the importance of each of our countries to the other’s energy security. The United States is Canada’s largest oil and gas customer, after all.
Unfortunately, Indigenous communities and groups are not central to this conversation. That needs to change if we want Canadian energy moving again. In early February, federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson called on Ottawa and the provinces to weigh the need for new west-to-east oil pipelines. Whether he intended it or not, Mr. Wilkinson’s call excluded Indigenous communities from the conversation.
Consulting with Indigenous groups is no longer a choice any more because of the duty to consult and our collective commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and its requirement of free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous groups. We have seen in the past how doing it wrong cost time and money.
