The federal government has launched its long-awaited Indigenous loan guarantee program, a move advocates say will help Canadian critical minerals infrastructure get built more quickly, and facilitate increased direct First Nations ownership in resource projects.
Ottawa’s budget released Tuesday outlines a program that would provide up to $5-billion in loan guarantees and be “sector agnostic” – meaning that oil and gas projects could be eligible. In the months leading up to the budget, advocacy groups including the First Nations Major Projects Coalition had worried a federal loan program might rule out oil and gas projects because they don’t line up with Ottawa’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The coalition and other groups said a federal loan guarantee program should be sector agnostic, in part because the oil and gas sector already has working relationships with…
