Building Together: How Indigenous economic reconciliation can fuel Canada’s resurgence – RBC Thought Leadership
April 22, 2025
Canada could be on the verge of a historic investment boom. The trade war with the U.S., an increasingly divided global economy, concerns over Arctic security and an AI revolution that comes with enormous energy requirements—all point to the need for more economic and security infrastructure. But those diverse ambitions, from northern ports to West Coast LNG to critical mineral plants, have a common requirement: Indigenous partnerships.
Canada’s future growth and prosperity depends heavily on getting Indigenous economic reconciliation right. If not, the country’s ability to diversify our resource exports, enjoy independence and resiliency in strategic sectors, and improve productivity, which has lagged that of other countries for years, are all at risk. And that’s not the only thing at stake. As RBC Thought Leadership’s research indicates, 73% of the 504 major resource and energy projects planned or currently underway in Canada run through, or are within a 20-kilometre radius of, Indigenous territories—namely, treaty, title unceded and consultation lands. The value of the Indigenous equity opportunity of those projects alone is $98 billion over the next 10 years.
