Indigenous Business Update: Coalition Backs East–West Renewable Grid, Calls for Indigenous-Led Investment and Worker Protections – NetNewsLedger
September 24, 2025
OTTAWA – A broad coalition of 17 organizations—including Indigenous clean-energy leaders, labour unions, physicians, faith and climate groups, electrical workers, and municipal councillors—is meeting with more than two dozen Members of Parliament on Sept. 24–25 to urge the federal government to build an east–west electricity grid powered by renewables. The coalition’s message: pair nation-building infrastructure with Indigenous rights and ownership, worker protections, and made-in-Canada components to maximize health, employment, and economic benefits.
The partners say recent federal announcements on major projects signal missed opportunities and that a connected, renewable grid—co-funded by Ottawa and the provinces—would lower costs and improve reliability by allowing regions to share low-cost renewable power. Today, provincial systems are more connected to the United States than to each other, even as Canada’s electricity needs are projected to double or triple by 2050 with electrification of industry, transportation, and heating.
