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Indigenous Clean Energy Projects Begin with Community Consent - The Energy Mix · The Environment in Canada Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of the Environment in Canada podcast by Sierra Club Canada.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor Curtis, Director of Communications with Sierra Club Canada.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Today and in some future podcasts, we're going to be bringing you some content from the energy mix.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what today's podcast is.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Please check it out.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Take a listen.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: I do just also want to highlight a couple of other things.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, an update on the River Run 2026 Warcraft Grassy Narrows from Mercury Justice in Toronto that happened on September 23rd.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You may remember this event was promoted in a few of our podcasts and in the newsletter.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: And just to mention that they had about 9,000 people come out.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: That is some CTV news coverage that I will put in the description of this podcast.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Very glad to see this happen for the organizers of that event.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also, just a reminder before we get into the content from the energy mix: tomorrow is National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Please do go out and attend related events or watch related coverage.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we really encourage you to do so.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Before we jump into the coverage from the energy mix, a reminder that the views expressed in that coverage may not reflect the views of Sierra Club Canada.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: We share this with you for your information.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I do also want to highlight that we have a joint community energy showcase with the energy mix.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is a place where you can read their articles next to our take action items because we know reading the news can sometimes be a little disheartening.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: And as much as the energy mix does an excellent job of covering the positive things like developments in renewable energy, things like people taking environmental action and it working, there is a lot of negative in just the news because of the nature of the climate crisis.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So we try to offer a place where you can actually take action on these issues while reading the news.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you can find that community energy showcase at sc.energimix.com.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: A reminder also that you can take action on environmental issues by visiting Sierra Club.ca.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have tons of petitions, other actions and events, and regular news updates you can sign up for on the homepage.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find Sierra Club Canada on social media and you can listen to the Environment in Canada podcast on the Harbinger Media Network, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, and YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast also airs on CKUT Broadcast Radio in Montreal 90.3 FM biweekly on Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Eastern Time.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to click follow or subscribe to get the latest episodes from us.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: From liquefied natural gas terminals to another massive West Coast pipeline, a new generation of fossil fuel projects is producing intense community pushback, literally from coast to coast.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_03: With National Day for Truth and Reconciliation coming up tomorrow, so much of the leadership and authority behind that fight is coming from Indigenous communities.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: But there's another side to the story of Indigenous Energy Projects, and that is the story of Indigenous clean energy.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: When the Energy Mix hosted the Better Ideas Show earlier this month, coinciding with Prime Minister Kearney's Canada Investment Summit, we heard about the thousands of clean energy projects in Indigenous communities across the country, and the models of governance and community consent that make those projects work.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: James Jenkins is a member of the Walpole Island First Nation and executive director of Indigenous Clean Energy.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: Serena Mendizabal is a Cayuga Wolf Clan Panamanian woman from the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, and she is managing director of Sacred Earth Solar.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Sacred Earth is an indigenous women-led organization with 10 local projects in operation and two more in development.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_03: They were two of the guests who helped us paint a picture of the nation-building projects that can actually build the nation, or in this case, the nations, while meeting the economic and national sovereignty goals behind the Carnegie Summit.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_03: You can find the Energy Mix online at www.theenergymix.com.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: The Better Ideas Show is on our brand new YouTube channel at The Energy Mix News.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: First, here's James Jenkins talking about the 250 large renewable energy projects already operating in Indigenous country, all of them over a megawatt, and many producing 100 megawatts of power or more.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: All of them with some degree of indigenous ownership or co-ownership.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: James, welcome and thank you for joining us on the Better Ideas Show.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you very much, Mitchell.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: Very happy to be here.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's great to have you here.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: There is such a massive amount of local clean energy development underway in Indigenous communities across Canada.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: What's going on and what makes this the kind of nation-building project or nations building project that can meet Prime Minister Kearney's goals for his Canada Investment Summit while also connecting Indigenous communities with the clean energy economy?
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, that's a great question.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_02: We just released our national survey earlier this year, and it tracks a number of Indigenous-owned and co-owned projects across the country.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: And would definitely encourage anybody to look at our national survey.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's on our website.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_02: But right now we're tracking 250 medium to large renewable projects that are owned or co-owned by Indigenous communities, with another hundred that are either planned or under construction.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a rapidly growing area.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_02: Many of these projects are large as well.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: So we're tracking everything over one megawatt, but many are 100 megawatts or more.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_02: CapEx is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_02: And the total CapEx for all of these projects is about$27 billion.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: So we have been emphasizing to the federal government, to a number of audiences, that collectively these projects are very large.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: They have a large impact.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: They're a major section of energy infrastructure in general.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: And part of the reason for that is all across the country, the expectation has really become for clean energy projects, but a number of other sectors, that there should be some kind of model for Indigenous co-ownership.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: So for the projects that are already in operation, the average for Indigenous equity is about 37%.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_02: And for emerging projects, it's 46%.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: So we're seeing a larger share of these projects have an Indigenous ownership component.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_02: The same applies to transmission projects, energy storage projects.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: There are dozens of utility scale projects with large Indigenous equity stakes, and thousands of community scale projects.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_02: So it's of major interest to Indigenous communities, but especially in more remote locations where diesel reliance is a factor, and there's a strong drive in most regions of the country to reduce diesel reliance.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: So there's a lot of motivation and it's become a model that works.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_02: 20 years ago, the model was often litigation and quasi-legal structures to try to answer questions of how do we deal with deploying large projects?
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: How's the federal government regulate these projects with um the reality of indigenous rights, with this which the Supreme Court has, Supreme Court has consistently upheld.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so it was a quasi-legal structure, and and we eventually came out of it with more of this expectation that often the indigenous communities are they they have uh they have rights, they they have a stake in the land itself, and and these kinds of equity partnerships have really taken hold as a model in Canada.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and a model that some of the other sectors could look at as well, because I know you know we're looking at how do we bring that kind of investment?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: How can there be the kind of indigenous uh equity ownership or other other partnership models where there is that kind of collaboration?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, there are there are just less successful examples when you look in in um oil and gas, mining, other sectors.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_02: There are some, but there are hundreds within the clean energy sector.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: So we definitely encourage policymakers to look at that.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: And um, and it is moving these kinds of investors as well.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: These are rock solid investment opportunities, usually with a power purchase agreement with very stable uh economics, very stable revenue and costs.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it really sets them apart from some of these other projects.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, these are the kinds of low-risk investments that pension funds and those kinds of investors are looking for.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_03: We've uh we do see a couple of wind energy projects with Indigenous communities in BC that are in the deal book for the uh Canada Investment Summit.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: But more broadly, how how well is this message landing with the federal, with federal and provincial governments, with institutional investors, with pension funds?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_03: We've had some conversation on the show about you know some major pension funds in Canada that are responsible for our retirement savings, um, and find it hard ever to read a fossil fuel project they didn't like, um, but haven't quite yet got the memo on clean energy projects in general.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I assume on Indigenous clean energy projects in particular.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: How are things going with just getting the message through and getting some results from that?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_02: So I think in general, the Canadian investors are well aware of opportunities like wind.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: Um, many of them gravitated to the US and other markets.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Um we see some of that shutting down, and so uh BC has been seen as an attractive market for these kinds of investors.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we may want to ask why are some of the other jurisdictions not being seen that way?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: And what can the federal government do to possibly encourage that?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there could be more opportunities for even stronger collaboration between the federal government when it comes to renewables, battery storage, um, possibly transmission lines.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think we don't know what that collaboration could look like, and and we're not hearing as much about it.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I think we'd like to hear more.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's an opportunity.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_02: How do we bring that kind of investment back to places like um Ontario, the prairies, and and regain that kind of interest and stability?
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_03: And Ontario, correct me if I'm wrong, please, but I as I recall, Ontario has that history.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: I be, I think it was a transmission line refurbishment.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think in the Northeast, in the mid-north, um, where where there was strong indigenous participation, that it was a major factor in the success of the project.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's true.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: And those notes go back, so I'm sorry I don't have the details.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_02: So some of the major new transmission projects in Ontario going back um about 15 years ago or more, um, we did start to see indigenous equity models for those.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_02: And and more recently, Ontario um uh it's its main utility for transmission lines, Hydro One, has a policy that all new transmission lines will have an Indigenous equity component.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and partly that was that was to face the reality of the landscape impacts of projects like transmission lines.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: What does that mean in the context of the the existing Indigenous rights framework?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: How do we get through construction?
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_02: And and we wound up with equity models that are now um, they're now the policy within Ontario.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_02: And we've seen most other jurisdictions take note, and and it is unique internationally in terms of this expectation that uh transmission line, which is a large infrastructure asset, um, potentially a profitable asset, um, that the expectation is there'll be indigenous equity components.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, we see a number of transmission line projects in in the document being shared at the summit.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um most of those, it's it's you know, conceived that there will be indigenous equity and that they will be business partners on these projects.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_03: We've seen so many examples where Indigenous communities have been able to assert more control in the early stages of project planning, and that has meant that their renewable energy development partners have ended up with better projects as a result.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: What can investors outside Indigenous country learn from that experience?
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, thanks so much for that question.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think it speaks to we're now at a stage, particularly for clean energy projects, where the indigenous investor can be seen as an asset.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_02: There's existing knowledge about what will the landscape impacts be, umledge that can go into ideal site selection.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_02: And these have made for better projects when it comes to sensitive ecological areas.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_02: Um, when you have an Indigenous partner with uh significant economic stake, um, you're going to have that kind of impact input that can lead to a a better project, but one that will see obstacles down the road and likely um make decisions upfront.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: And the alternative to that that we saw 15 years ago with many of these projects when Indigenous equity wasn't a reality was um the Indigenous right holders were often the challengers that came along and said this project is going right through a sensitive area, it's going to impact my rights as an Indigenous person to harvest resources in this area.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_02: And um that could cost years in terms of project planning, um, going through the various review processes.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: So there's there's definitely a potential positive there in these models.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's also interesting to see some of the new legislation like C5 could potentially roll back some of the mechanisms that were used in the past for indigenous rights holders to get involved in the project.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um and and there's some question in terms of so what what will the mechanism be moving forward so that that kind of input can take place and in both uh um you know a way that leads to a better project, that takes Indigenous rights into accounts, and that upholds uh what the Supreme Court has said on the matter.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_03: Has said repeatedly on the matter.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I think we'll leave it there.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: James Jenkins, Executive Director of Indigenous Clean Energy, thank you so much for joining us on the Better Ideas Show.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Mitchell.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_03: Thanks very much.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_03: Sacred Earth Solar puts indigenous sovereignty and self-determination at the center of every project it takes on.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: For Serena Mendizubat, the work begins and ends with place-based governance, community consent, healing justice, and capacity building, up to it, including the training that community members need to maintain renewable energy projects after they've been built.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome and thank you so much for joining the Better Ideas Show.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, Gano Sewa Guaygo, Sereni Gaoso Gai Kono Ni Kwanzo Den, Otien Y Gay Shout Dan.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: Hi, everyone.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Serena.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Hugo Wolfclan from Six Nations of the Grand River.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're a Huda Noshone community about an hour from Toronto.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So the closest First Nation to the city.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um Sacred Earth Solar can I do have a question for you about Six Nations of the Grand River coming up, but Sacred Earth Solar, beginning there, um, connects Indigenous communities, climate change, environment, clean energy, and healing justice.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_03: And you've been doing this work from the ground up for nearly a decade.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: How does that approach strengthen Indigenous communities and deliver reliable local economic benefits while helping to build the clean climate economy?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think Sacred Earth, what we really do is we actively build the clean energy economy with communities.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: And our organization exists because our founder and executive director, Melina, watched a pipeline dump 4.5 million liters of oil near her community in 2011.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Most of you are probably aware.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so for us at Sacred Earth, we aren't just waiting for the just transition to happen for us.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: We're actively building it alongside communities now.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: And we can see this through our core clean energy and climate infrastructure pathway.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_01: This pathway is directly working with community partners around the country.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: Currently, we have eight community partners and have completed 10 projects since 2015 and are actively working on our 11th and 12th project.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: These at the core of these projects is community leadership and community consent.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so for myself, I got into renewable energy about 10 years ago working in Six Nations, and I was working in community engagement, and there was actively a major concern around if these projects are still consensual.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: And my community, we're the biggest First Nation in the country.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's quite hard to get consent on a pro on a in a community with 20,000 members.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: So for myself, that's actually how I found myself at Sacred Earth.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_01: Because at the core of our projects is indigenous sovereignty and self-determination.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: And through our way of working, we work directly with partners to build capacity so that they can lead the clean energy or climate visions for their community.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_01: We use a place-based governance model within all of our partnerships.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_01: So those partners and the governance models that they use are actively the ones we're using within all decision making that pertains to our projects.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_01: And we can see that this has been really exciting across the projects, both supporting frontline land protection as well as healing justice, but also hereditary systems such as the one in Six Nations.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: We've supported the Sour Springs Longhouse.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_01: And the three guiding principles of that project were Hood and Ashone-led climate solutions, Hood and Ashone clan decision making, and capacity building.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_01: And so how I think Sacred Earth is really approaching communities and delivering these economic benefits while building this economy is that we are actively putting our communities and their self-determination at the forefront and making sure that we're not just putting up infrastructure and projects and leaving it there.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_01: We're actively providing the knowledge and the skills so that community partners are able to maintain those projects, right?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like how many projects are we seeing across the country right now, and they're having major issues around maintenance and people don't necessarily have the skills.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's been really beautiful to see how our approach has provided hope and agency for communities wanting to pave the just transition in their communities.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_01: And the last point I'll also note is healing justice is a core tenant.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's not just a nice to have bolted onto the climate work.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_01: Burnout and grief are barriers to a just transition, too.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And we fund the rest in repair, not just the panels.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_01: The these projects are about relationships and relationships are governance.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_01: And so we really enact self-determination through all the work we do.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what really uh singles out our projects as something special.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_03: I keep wanted to ask as I hear this, uh, just just magnificent frame that you that you've developed and and and that you're practicing.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: I keep wanting to ask what is the compare and contrast between all of this and the project in 2011 that led to the spill, that led Molina and the other rest of you to get on this track and form this organization.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_03: How would you contrast the two projects?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: Contrast to our projects, yeah.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's a really good question in terms of the reason why we're even meeting today, why we're even on this live stream.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: We have over 160 projects, mega projects being pitched to 250 uh of the richest billionaires in the world, um, basically selling Canada public resources and indigenous land.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so the contrast is quite stark.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it really is, I think, that difference of continuously within the Indian Act policy, Indigenous communities were unable to actually uh participate within energy leadership across the country.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: And what we've seen now is us reclaiming our inherent right to govern our territories in the way we want.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And so we can see uh the projects that we do are a stark contrast to the impacts that we've seen from the fossil fuel regime, right?
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it actually brings it back to health.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: We can see that there is severe health impacts with fossil fuels, with LNG, with a lot of these projects that are proposing, that are being proposed across Indigenous territories.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: And communities are in opposition.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: With Sacred Earth, our projects are the exact opposite.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_01: I work directly in my community of six nations, who, if people are aware of, have continuously been on the front lines in 2006 with Gunasado in 2020 with 1492 Lambac Lane actively protecting our territory from uh external housing developments.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: And when we did, we did a 24 kilowatt solar farm with the Sour Springs Longhouse that had hereditary leadership.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: There was no protesting that day.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: There was just smiles and pride that came from our community because we made sure within all steps of this project that our governance was illuminated and was upheld.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's the difference of our projects is there's a really big difference between First Nations-owned projects where we have proponents come in and tell us they know exactly what they should do to transition our communities.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_01: They don't know our communities the way that we know our communities.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why Sacred Earth works on community-led projects, as well as other organizations such as Indigenous Clean Energy, who have trained over 120 Indigenous leaders in the country to actively put up these projects because we know that we have the knowledge and we have the skills to do so with just uh access, right?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_01: Access to these spaces that are really not our own.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what Sacred Earth really does is we bridge that gap and we make Make sure our communities uh have the capacity and have the pride as well as the resourcing to push forward the projects they want to.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_03: You were mentioning Indigenous clean energy, and we were talking just earlier today with James Jenkins, their executive director, who talked uh a lot of numbers have gone by today, but I think I'll I think I've got this right.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: He said that there are already 250 um clean energy projects on the ground in Indigenous communities and another 100 in development.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, and he said these are all medium and large projects.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um actually, from their uh national survey, they just released a national survey.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what we've got six, yeah, and I was just reading it.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: It was like 352 medium to large scale projects and 1,250 community renewable energy.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, right?
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like that's an amazing number because that's mind-blowing.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_01: It I will speak to Six Nations, um, and I worked in it, and obviously, Six Nations has one of the largest clean energy portfolios, and it's quite impressive, but uh, there's still concerns around consent within these projects.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_01: And so when we look at that 1250 projects, you know that's coming directly from the community.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: That is powering health centers, that's powering healing lodges, that's powering schools, that's powering ceremonial spaces, right?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think it's even like thinking beyond the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and thinking about community leadership and how some of these pilot projects that we do.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_01: For example, the uh Melina had led the Patapin project, which was a 20.8 kilowatt solar project on the health center in Little Buffalo after the oil spill.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: That was a pilot project to really bring solar into the community.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: And now we're 10 years later, we're getting to work again with Little Buffalo on another project to scale their efforts towards energy sovereignty, right?
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's really amazing like what some of those community-led projects, the capacity that can that can even build so that we can then usher in more solutions and have that leadership and knowledge to do so.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, it's been uh quite amazing to see uh the scale in which, even in the last 10 years, Indigenous renewable energy has increased.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, with also Indigenous Clean Energy Survey, are the First Nations Meteen Inuit people own or beneficiaries of 20% of uh all Canada's electricity generating infrastructure, which James probably told you.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: So we're quite literally leading the transition.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the way we're doing that is because we're bringing community along with us, right?
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: We wouldn't be able to do that without making sure our projects are consensual and have leadership at the helm, because this is that's the difference in what will actually pay for a just transition.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be just renewable energy, it's not going to be wind turbines and solar farms, it's going to be Indigenous leadership.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: And my one good friend Carol Monteur from Indigenous Climate Action, she actually speaks to the fact of how many people, all people can probably get on board in the climate movement for 100% renewable energy.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_01: How many people can get on board to have Indigenous people sovereign and governing our own lands?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_01: So that's the that's the mark that we really need to think about.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and especially in communities such as my own, who have hereditary governance that we've held since time immemorial, who have a distinct governance system in place.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_01: And thinking of Article 18 from the United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Peoples' Rights, that really gives us the fact that Indigenous peoples can uphold their own decision-making institutions.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so, how are we bringing that into projects?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_01: And that's really where Sacred Earth is starting to be creative and think beyond the structures that we've been given to implement the projects that will really bring community benefit to the forefront.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_03: So exciting.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_03: So exciting.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: We were down to the last minute or so of this way, way too brief conversation.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I really hope it's start first.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_03: I want to ask something just very fast.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: You talked about how obstacles are still being worked through.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you've talked about um community consent for protests.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: When obstacles come up, um, can you just give us a really quick snapshot of how they're dealt with at Six Nations of the Grad River?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'll be real.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Like, this is the issue that we're living within.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I think for myself, as a I'm 27 years old.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_01: This is something for the last 10 years I've been trying to figure out.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's why I have actually like why I decided to build projects myself is because obviously the structures in place.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: There's been so many issues when it comes to governance in my community and people not necessarily feeling represented, people like being locked out of announcements for major mega projects that are happening on our territory, um, community elders and whatnot.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so, not to like to be real, it is quite difficult to get past those obstacles.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_01: But that's where I decided to build the projects myself and to do it in the way that felt right and felt right to my ancestors by using our hereditary decision-making system.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_01: This is one of the first projects to do so in Six Nations, to really use our Klan system as a means of garnering consent.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's how I actually went beyond the obstacles, is I had to think outside the box and go back to our original instructions as Huden Ashone people.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: That's fascinating.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I'm pretty sure this is the first that we've heard of that dimension of the story.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and as it as we say, getting real, I really appreciate you uh sharing it.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're going to leave it here for now, but really I hope this is just the introduction to a conversation that that goes on and on.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um managing director of Secretary Solar.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's such a pleasure to have you there.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for joining us.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_01: Nyawa.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_03: The nearly three dozen guests who joined us for the Better Ideas show demonstrated that we can do more than one thing at once.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_03: We can protect Canada itself from Donald Trump's annexation threats while building a stronger economy, reducing our climate pollution, and respecting indigenous sovereignty.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: The show only ran two days, but the conversation is not stopping.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_03: Follow the Energy Mix at www.theenergimix.com to keep up to date.
• 28:23
  SPEAKER_03: For the Energy Mix and the Better Ideas show, I'm Mitchell Beer.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for tuning in to the special edition of the Environment in Canada podcast with content from the Energy Mix.
• 28:32
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