Why aren’t Indigenous peoples included in Canada’s fresh talk of energy development? – Indigenous Resource Network
April 16, 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.
