Our newsletter, 21 May 2026
Meet our Alliance advisory committee
We introduced our members, and the public, to our team of top advisors: leaders of business, industry, community, Indigenous development, and energy.
- Lori Ackerman, chief administrative officer for Prophet River First Nation in BC;
- Lisa Baiton, president and CEO of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers;
- Ken Coates, professor emeritus of the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan;
- Shannon Joseph, chair of Energy for a Secure Future Canada, and
- Denise Mullen of the Business Council of British Columbia.
Learn more about them here: https://bit.ly/4nwiG9Q
Powering LNG through people
Another key advisor is David Keane, LNG leader, former president of Woodfibre LNG, and a special consultant to the Alliance.
He wrote a special article, “Powering LNG through people,” that says projects that invest early in meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities succeed, while those that do not encounter delay, opposition, and uncertainty.
“British Columbia has emerged as a global case study in what works. Equity-based partnerships with First Nations have reshaped the development model.
“Indigenous ownership stakes in projects such as Cedar LNG and Ksi Lisims LNG represent not merely consultation, but participation.”
But he continued: “Yet ‘Powering LNG through People’ extends beyond Indigenous partnership alone. It also includes the skilled workforce that builds these projects and the communities that sustain them.
- Read it all here: https://bit.ly/4uKTmiL
‘Progress in partnership with Indigenous Peoples’
Indigenous roles and strengths in development of natural gas and LNG in Canada were an area much explored and discussed this month by the federal minister of energy and natural resources, Tim Hodgson.
On a visit to BC, he met energy and industry leaders including Indigenous leaders from the Haisla Nation, the majority owner of the $5.9-billion Cedar LNG project.
“The minister and Haisla leaders discussed how Cedar LNG will create jobs, drive economic growth, diversify our export markets and support global energy security by supplying low-carbon Canadian LNG to Asia-Pacific markets.”
His message during the tour: “Canada is entering a defining moment of nation building. We are not just developing projects — we are reshaping how this country builds at scale. We are not only removing red tape, streamlining processes and catalyzing investment, we are also grounding progress in partnership with Indigenous Peoples.
“This is what durable prosperity and economic sovereignty look like, and this is how we will build Canada Strong for all generations to come.”
(Hodgson is at right in the photo above. In centre is BC Premier David Eby and at left is Adrian Dix, BC’s minister of energy and climate solutions.)
- Read more: https://bit.ly/3Ru8UZX
Indigenous Clean Energy
• Ottawa commits to investing more than $4.5 million in Indigenous-led clean energy projects in British Coumbia: https://bit.ly/3PsK5gz
• New report highlights growing role of Indigenous populations in Canada’s energy transition: https://bit.ly/499Tu3g
• Atlantic chiefs call for Indigenous collaboration on offshore wind farm development: https://bit.ly/3Rf2bTN(Photo above)
• BC Hydro awards electricity-purchase agreements to four renewable-energy projects in northern BC and the southern Interior: https://bit.ly/4dF80m2
• Ottawa invites public comment on BC solar project proposed by the Upper Nicola Band/Okanagan Nation Alliance: https://bit.ly/3P9w2Mv
• The BC Environmental Assessment Office hears from the public on the proposed m.ah a temEEwuh solar project in BC, and asks the proponent to ‘provide meaningful responses.’ https://bit.ly/4f9BE42
• Garden River First Nation in Ontario enters partnership for major solar project: https://bit.ly/3RLUQuU
• Fort Nelson First Nation geothermal project in BC outlines next steps: https://bit.ly/3PI2d66
• First Nations become 50% owners of Hydro One transmission line in Ontario: https://bit.ly/4dlsBM9
• Ontario has First Nations as partners in major Red Lake power line project: https://bit.ly/4uYfvKW
• Manitoba Hydro won’t reveal the identities of the companies under consideration to build Indigenous-led wind farms — even though some of those companies have identified themselves: https://bit.ly/3RhI5bo
Also in the news
- Vaughn Palmer: BC premier David Eby is openly bullish on LNG Canada expansion: https://bit.ly/4nwqyZ0 In The Vancouver Sun
- Federal Energy Minister Tim Hodgson pitches increasing Canadian natural-gas flows to the US, to boosting LNG exports from the Gulf Coast and meet rising power demand from artificial-intelligence data centres: https://bit.ly/3PvS7oJ
- The Montney Formation in BC and Alberta now is being seen as a global natural-gas supplier, not just a regional one. A different kind of resource story: https://bit.ly/4dow3nY
- Canada needs to do more, with speed, to position itself as a global energy superpower.— Lisa Baiton, CEO, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers: https://bit.ly/4uNofTI
- LNG Canada says it is trying to reduce flaring of natural gas, and airshed monitors don’t show elevated levels of contaminants: https://bit.ly/3PoW3Yk
- LNG Canada hails ‘enhanced cooperation’ by governments as it works towards a potential final investment decision on expanding the project. ‘Now is the moment for purposeful collaboration.’ https://bit.ly/4u6TlG6
EVENTS
• Atlantica Centre for Energy hosts a webinar, Natural Gas Forum – Part II, on gas in Atlantic Canada, May 25: https://bit.ly/4cS4fs1
• Clean Energy Association of BC, Generate 2026 conference, May 25-26, Vancouver. Alliance CEO Karen Ogen will be a panellist: https://bit.ly/4mcJVWj
• Canadian Propane Association, leadership summit and awards, June 1-3, Calgary: https://bit.ly/42xVoHf
• Indigenous Resource Opportunities Conference, June 3-5, Nanaimo: https://bit.ly/4asjsQE
• Energy for a Secure Future, Municipal Energy Dialogue, June 4, Edmonton: https://bit.ly/4sZ9IU1
• Global Energy Show Canada, June 9-11, Calgary: https://ow.ly/NnlW50XffWC Alliance CEO Karen Ogen is among speakers.
• Energy Influencers Conference (at the Global Energy Show above): https://bit.ly/4aRfBvd
• International Pipeline Conference and Expo, Sept. 21-25, Calgary: https://ow.ly/NmxS50Y5Kag
• Tenth annual Nation2Nation Forum, Oct. 20-22, BC location TBA: https://bit.ly/4nvUogl
• Canadian Gas Association, CGA Energy Week, Oct. 26-29, Toronto: https://bit.ly/4vrupdw
Know someone who might be interested in our newsletter? Please let them know that they can subscribe here, for free. You’ll also find us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X .
(Posted here 23 May 2026)
