Mi’kmaq ‘no longer mere spectators’ as Indigenous investment in energy projects grows

At an Indigenous-led energy conference in Moncton this week, Mi’kmaw leaders delivered a clear message: New Brunswick's energy future runs through their communities.

They described a dual role for First Nations: as investors and owners of future energy projects, and as defenders of treaty rights when it comes to those projects.

ProEnergy, the U.S.-based company hired to build a controversial new gas plant in Tantramar, has been heavily criticized for promoting an Indigenous equity stake in the project before a deal was approved, and before a Mi’gmaw rights impact assessment was underway.

Dean Vicaire, executive director of Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., or MTI, the consultative body for eight of the nine Mi’kmaw nations in the province, says an impact assessment by his organization is now