Ottawa vows ‘next steps’ on Indigenous loan guarantee program, but few details

Industry groups and Indigenous leaders are still waiting for details on whether the program will facilitate equity ownership in oil and gas projects.

The “next steps” for a long-awaited Indigenous loan guarantee program will be announced in next year’s federal budget, the Liberal government promised in its fall economic statement on Tuesday.

But industry groups and Indigenous leaders are still waiting for details on whether the program, which the fiscal update said would help communities invest in the natural resource sector, will facilitate equity ownership in oil and gas projects.

It is important for help to be available across all sectors, the First Nations Major Project Coalition said on Tuesday after the government promised to “advance development” of loan guarantees.

“We hope to see a program that ultimately seeks to respect the rights of First Nations to participate in projects on their lands, as they wish,” said a statement from the coalition, a group of more than 130 Indigenous Nations working to ensure First Nations communities get a fair share of the benefits from projects that cross their territories.

A loan guarantee would protect lenders from potential defaults by including language that a third party — in this case, the federal government — would pay the bill should the borrower default.

Ottawa is promising “to increase access to the affordable capital that Indigenous communities will require” to make investment opportunities a reality.

But there were scant details in Tuesday’s budget update about how a program would work.

“Everyone in Canada deserves to share in Canada’s economic prosperity, and the clean economy opportunities that lie ahead offer new ways to advance economic reconciliation,” the document said.