Our Alliance joins Indigenous groups in urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to support LNG exports as ‘the first step on a road that includes hydrogen, nuclear power technology and other innovations.’
The Right Honourable Mark Carney
Prime Minister of Canada
80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2
Via email: mark.carney@parl.gc.ca
May 26, 2025
Re: Energy discussions at the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) Meetings in June
Dear Prime Minister Carney,
On behalf of the undersigned Indigenous Organizations, we would like to congratulate you on your recent election as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister.
This is an important time for Canada and for Indigenous Nations; our country has an opportunity to help the world through our energy resources. R
Realizing this opportunity will uplift Indigenous Peoples and advance reconciliation in Canada through economic participation and self-determination.
We see the upcoming G7 meeting as a crucial milestone and want to work with you to fulfill our collective potential.
Your ambition to make Canada a world leading energy superpower is a welcome change from your predecessor.
In a previous letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, we conveyed the importance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the need for it to receive clear support from Canada in G7 discussions.
As Canada prepares to host the upcoming G7 leaders’ summit, we look to you to strike a balance with your peers that better integrates shared goals around energy security, economic growth and environmental protection.
Canada’s Indigenous Peoples are now leaders in the energy conversation both domestically and increasingly internationally.
Our organizations and our members have taken part in important energy discussions, including LNG2023 in Vancouver and COP28 in Dubai, as well as industry-led missions to Beijing, Tokyo and Norway.
These occasions have enabled us as Indigenous Peoples to speak for ourselves about the projects we are involved in, and our desire to help others around the world who are seeking energy security.
During these conversations. we have listened and learned that in the Indo-Pacific, many countries, including G7 allies like Japan, import over 90 percent of their energy. For Japan, Korea, Taiwan and others in the region, energy is security.
Moreover, these countries see LNG as critical to their path off higher-emitting fuels like coal and to the integration of wind and solar power.
We also learned that countries in the region have long-term energy contracts with Russia that will begin to expire starting in 2029. As a result, they are seeking new LNG opportunities now, and Canada is perfectly positioned to be that partner.
Canadian energy is Indigenous energy. Today, Indigenous Peoples – Nations, workers, and business owners – are involved in all aspects of energy in Canada.
Whether hydro and nuclear, oil, natural gas and propane, wind and solar, electricity transmission and pipelines, Indigenous Peoples are working with partners in industry to advance energy and economic security at home and abroad.
We would highlight that Canada’s first LNG project, LNG Canada, will ship its first cargo this summer, but progressing quickly are Haisla Nation’s Cedar LNG project, Woodfibre LNG with the support of Squamish Nation and the Nisga’a Nation’s Ksi Lisims LNG.
These projects and others are important for Indigenous Peoples and for all Canadians as they position us to be ready, on time for 2029, to help our international friends.
For our Nations, energy and infrastructure projects represent training, jobs, revenues for programs to care for our youth and elders, and to preserve our languages. It represents freedom from boil-water advisories and from the energy poverty experienced in many of our communities. This is something other countries also seek: energy and economic security.
We are encouraged by your commitment to build pipelines across the country to displace foreign oil imports, expand energy infrastructure, develop energy and trade corridors, and the promise from the federal government to leverage “all its power,” including legislative, to accelerate delivering these projects “at a speed not seen before.”
Your comprehensive energy platform, your comments on March 20, 2025 leading up to a recent First Ministers’ Meeting, and May 21st 2025 mandate letter, send new and positive signals to our First Nations members.
We also believe “it’s about getting things done,” shifting the review focus from “why” to “how,” with Indigenous Peoples at the table ready to lead alongside industry, federal and provincial governments.
We can achieve resource development and the export of energy while respecting the land, Canada’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit Peoples, and our inherent Treaty Rights. We can create opportunities for Canadians and our allies alike.
For the coming G7 Leaders Summit, we would ask the following:
- To have a clear and positive message about the global energy security and emissions reduction role of LNG at the G7 Leaders Summit and in the communique to follow.
- To reverse current G7 policies that restrict access to financing by energy customers for key infrastructure associated with conventional energy, including: thermal power plants, LNG intake facilities, pipelines, etc.
Finally, we would like to have a meeting with you, alongside our members, who include Chiefs or leaders of Treaty 6, Treaty 7, Treaty 8 Nations, modern and non-treaty Nations, as well as Indigenous workers and business owners. We hope to discuss ways to work together successfully to advance our shared goals.
We look forward to working with you and your government to fulfill Canada’s global LNG potential.
Delivering on LNG is the first step on a road that includes hydrogen, nuclear power technology and other innovations. Indigenous Peoples are ready to deliver, and we ask you to stand with us.
Respectfully,
- Karen Ogen, CEO, First Nations Natural Gas Alliance
- Chief Councillor Crystal Smith, Haisla Nation, Chair, First Nations Natural Gas Alliance
- Stephen Buffalo, President, Indian Resource Council
- Grand Chief Greg Desjarlais, Treaty 6, Chair, Indian Resource Council
- Guy Lonechild, Chief Executive Officer, First Nations Power Authority
- Chief Felix Thomas, Chairman, First Nations Power Authority
- John Desjarlais, Executive Director, Indigenous Resource Network
- Justin Bourque, Vice-President, Athabasca Indigenous Investments
Cc: The Hon. Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources
Cc: The Hon. Julie Dabrusin, Minister of Environment and Climate Change
Cc: The Hon. Rebecca Alty, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations
Cc: The Hon. Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade
