THIS TREND IS ... CREATING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY.

The Ontario government last summer awarded a $1.35-billion contract to Wataynikaneyap Power (Watay) to build a 1,800-kilometre transmission line to connect 17 communities that remain reliant on diesel. The line also has the potential to power mine sites such as Goldcorp Inc.’s Musselwhite mine about 480 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.

Goldcorp provided early development funding for Watay, a partnership between 22 First Nations, FortisOntario Inc. and Renewable Energy Systems Canada Inc. The communities currently own 51 per cent of the company, with plans to eventually expand that to 100 per cent.

There are opportunities for other mining companies to become Watay customers and their shared interest in getting off diesel could help bridge the historical gap between the two sides, said Margaret Kenequanash, chair of Watay and executive director of the Shibogama First Nations Council.

“I think that definitely could be a starting point in how we work together,” she said.

Construction is expected to begin next year and should be done by 2024, creating in the process more than 680 jobs in a part of Ontario where development is rare.

The investment fulfils First Nations’ needs on three fronts: it will make the dream of indigenous-owned power infrastructure a reality, provide clean energy and improve the socioeconomic conditions on northern Ontario’s reserves, Kenequanash said.

In any case, the diesel generators at 10 of the remote First Nations involved in Watay are already at capacity.

“They are unable to pursue any further development in the community and it compromises basics such as water, food and shelter because of outages and housing can’t be connected,” Kenequanash said. “Millions of dollars are being spent on bandaid solutions and temporary fixes right now, but they don’t last.”

Watay is focused for now on the transmission lines, but some First Nations are already using small-scale solar and wind projects in addition to diesel to supplement their major buildings such as water, sewer, band offices and schools.

Chris Angeconeb was one of the first community members involved in Watay after 13 chiefs mandated a steering committee in 2008 to investigate the development and ownership of a transmission line.

That experience, along with a decade negotiating with companies on behalf of Lac Seul, taught him that it is in miners’ best interests to have local communities provide power for projects, rather than have fuel hauled from thousands of kilometres away.

Other communities across Canada are already experimenting with renewables including solar panels in Colville Lake in the Northwest Territories and Deer Lake in northern Ontario, while in Nunavik, Que., a wind turbine installed at Glencore PLC’s Raglan Mine has displaced some 3.4 million litres of diesel and could help power nearby Inuit communities.

Several First Nations also have ownership stakes in various energy projects, including Fort McKay First Nation’s 33-per-cent interest in a northern Alberta oil storage terminal and Moose Cree First Nation’s 25-per-cent equity stake in an Ontario Power Generation hydro development.

JP Gladu, chief executive of the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business, said such partnerships suggest industry is catching up with the original idea behind land treaties: sharing resources.

“The important part about this trend is it’s creating economic opportunity for the communities: they begin to drive some of the business solutions, they drive socio-economic activity, they develop their own source revenue,” he said. “They buy into projects so why the heck would they produce blockades and go to court when they’re a part of a project?”

Wiigwaasaatig marries the trend toward renewable energy on reserves and First Nations’ equity stakes in projects, a model Angeconeb believes could work for other indigenousowned renewable power companies. But first it needs funding. Angeconeb said he is making progress in bringing other local communities into Wiigwaasaatig, while AurCrest’s president Ian Brodie-Brown is working Bay Street, seeking an initial capital investment of about $1 million for the company’s subsidiary.

Brodie-Brown sees a “oncein-a-millennium” opportunity to include First Nations in resource development with full participation and ownership.

“The ability for a community to provide that energy to the mine site that is in their traditional territory changes the game and it alters the meaning of participation,” he said.

Brodie-Brown said several investors, solar panel producers such as Samsung and even an international mining company have shown interest in the idea.

“It doesn’t need government control or government finance: Bay Street is prepared to finance this effort,” he said. “It’s going to happen, it checks off every box that everybody’s considering right now.”