By Lauren Whitford
OTTAWA — For the first time in more than 120 years of first ministers’ meetings, Canada’s prime minister and premiers will sit down Monday at a table set aside for First Nations, and the chiefs are bringing a business plan.
The closed-door First Nations–First Ministers’ Meeting, hosted by the federal government in Ottawa, is the first gathering of its kind since the 2005 Kelowna Accord talks, according to The Canadian Press, via Global News. Ahead of it, the Assembly of First Nations published position papers asking Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers for a permanent seat in federal-provincial decision-making, a national framework for sharing the benefits of major projects, and a First Nations-controlled sovereign wealth fund.
The pitch is less about new program spending than about ownership. It comes as Ottawa pushes pipelines, mines and power lines through a faster approval system, and as provinces look to Indigenous equity to get those projects built.
“There are two different pathways through the large project development: It’s either with First Nations or without First Nations,” AFN Ontario Regional Chief Abram Benedict told CBC News. “One will seed a successful collaboration that brings benefit not only to our nations but to the province and to the nation in which we live in. And the other one will be met with resistance and court challenges.”
A historic table, with empty chairs
The meeting follows a Sunday day of ceremony on the grounds of the John G. Diefenbaker Building at 111 Sussex Drive. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt, Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Tony Wakeham and Northwest Territories Premier R.J. Simpson attended, The Canadian Press reported.
Not everyone will be at the table. CBC News reported that the premiers of Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec were expected to be absent. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the meeting overlaps with the return of question period in her legislature and the aftermath of the province’s separation referendum, according to The Canadian Press. Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said he wants to take a different approach with Indigenous peoples and has his own meetings planned, including one with the chief of the Assembly of First Nations of Quebec and Labrador.
The AFN’s event page notes that the meeting is a Government of Canada event, not an AFN event. The assembly was given 44 badges for the main room. Mr. Carney committed to the meeting at the AFN’s December 2025 Special Chiefs Assembly, and the premiers agreed at the Council of the Federation in the summer of 2025. Proceedings organized by the Privy Council Office will not be livestreamed, CBC reported. Each AFN region was to get about three minutes for opening remarks.
National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak framed the day as overdue.
“A lot of our previous national chiefs and First Nations that have come before my time have always been disrespected and left out of these meetings,” Ms. Woodhouse Nepinak told CBC News.
“We see geopolitical unrest around the world for many people including Canada. And we want to work toward prosperity for First Nations, and make sure that this meeting isn’t a one-and-done,” she said, according to The Canadian Press. “There is no shortage of issues, and the quicker we all get back to the table, the better this country will be.”
The federal position
The Prime Minister’s Office told CBC News that the goal is to see outcomes, and that the federal government will announce new community supports for First Nations on Monday.
Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty described the meeting as a beginning.
“This is the first step in, I think, a new relationship, path forward,” Ms. Gull-Masty told CBC. “We’re looking to build this relationship to advance things in Canada, and that means that everybody has to be included.”
“I’m actually looking forward and very excited to see how this conversation is going to unfold,” she said. “It’s going to be a defining opportunity for everybody who comes to that table.”
Ottawa’s energy minister has made a similar case for ownership. When TC Energy closed a deal on Oct. 13 that gives five British Columbia First Nations an economic interest in the Coastal GasLink pipeline, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in the company’s announcement: “Canada is entering a generational investment supercycle in energy and natural resources, and Indigenous ownership will be at the heart of it.”
The Haisla Nation and four Treaty 8 nations — Halfway River First Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations — are in that deal, according to TC Energy. The company said a second transaction involving more First Nations is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
“Our participation in this transaction reflects years of work to build a stronger role for Indigenous Nations in Canada’s energy future,” West Moberly First Nations Chief Roland Willson said in the release.
The ask: a $376 billion gap and a wealth fund
The AFN’s economic paper, “Building Prosperity for All,” is marked as a draft for discussion. It asks first ministers to agree to four things:
- a permanent First Nations-federal-provincial-territorial process;
- a First Nations National Benefit Sharing Framework that protects free, prior and informed consent;
- a First Nations-controlled sovereign wealth fund;
- recognition of the First Nations infrastructure gap as a nation-building priority.
The numbers behind it are large. The AFN and Indigenous Services Canada first put the cost of closing the infrastructure gap at $349.2 billion by 2030. The paper says that figure now stands at $376.1 billion after counting $33.4 billion in government funding, and would reach an estimated $527 billion if action slips to 2040. It estimates $1.82 in economic output for every dollar invested.
The paper argues that government programs alone “mathematically cannot close the gap.” Instead, it proposes that major projects “could be compelled to contribute to a National First Nations Sovereign Wealth Fund,” which would be grown through investment and open to all First Nations, not just those near a pipeline or mine.
It points to the existing federal toolkit, including the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, which it says “facilitates equity participation by lowering borrowing costs, though it provides no direct funding.” It also notes that the Indian Act’s land tenure system limits the security conventional lenders rely on, which constrains on-reserve borrowing.
The AFN also takes aim at the federal government’s new $25 billion Canada Strong Fund, an arm’s-length Crown investment corporation. The paper says creating the fund “without a First Nations specific component in its architecture raises critical questions about First Nations participation in national investment.” It suggests a First Nations component within that fund as one option.
Global News reported that the sovereign wealth fund concept was proposed by Chippewas of the Thames First Nation.
Skeptics on both flanks
Not every First Nations leader expects much from Monday.
“I’m doubtful that it will meet our expectations,” Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, who represents 49 First Nations in northern Ontario, told CBC. “It seems to me that Canada is the one that’s driving the agenda.” Mr. Fiddler said the format, with three minutes of opening remarks per region and no guarantee he could speak in the main room, was not conducive to a constructive discussion. “I find it very disrespectful,” he said. “Their approach is unacceptable.”
Several Manitoba chiefs speaking Saturday were open to development but drew a line at rights, Global News reported.
“We are not opposed to responsible economic development. We want our people to prosper. We want investment, employment, business opportunities and ownership,” said Chief David Monias of Pimicikamak Okimawin, who wants the federal fast-track law repealed. “Equity is an important opportunity and it’s not a substitute for our rights.”
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson said: “We expect to be treated as equal partners, and we expect governments to work with us.”
Others worry the economic focus will crowd out social crises. “Unless the prime minister, the premiers and the territories are going to look a little bit deeper than resource development or economic reconciliation, I worry that they’re not going to be successful with their agenda,” said Chief Jeff Copenance of Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation, according to Global News.
Mohawk policy analyst Russ Diabo has helped organize a counter-meeting and a protest. He told The Canadian Press he worries the AFN, which represents chiefs but is not a rights-holding body, will make agreements with the prime minister and premiers.
The federal Conservatives argue the consent question is already answered for some flagship projects. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has said his caucus will seek amendments to Bill C-39, the government’s bill to shorten reviews of major projects, said this month that Indigenous consent for projects like the proposed Pacific Link pipeline is not a barrier because “we already have” it, according to The Canadian Press.
Why it matters south of the border
The outcome matters in Western New York too. Mr. Benedict, the first Haudenosaunee person to serve as Ontario regional chief, led the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne as grand chief from 2015 to 2024, according to the AFN. Akwesasne’s territory straddles the Ontario, Quebec and New York borders. Ontario’s critical minerals in the Ring of Fire, about 5,000 square kilometres in Nishnawbe Aski territory according to CBC, are central to the province’s pitch to U.S. manufacturers. The power, pipeline and mining projects now being negotiated will shape cross-border energy and supply chains that run through Buffalo and Niagara.
The meeting also sets up Ottawa’s next fiscal test. Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is scheduled to table the federal budget on Nov. 5.
“This is not a one-and-done meeting,” Mr. Benedict told CBC.
Whether it becomes one may depend on what the first ministers agree to make permanent. With some premiers missing and the AFN’s papers still marked as drafts, the next measure will be whether Ottawa’s promised announcement includes capital that First Nations control, not just program dollars.
The Buffalo Chronicle has requested comment from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Assembly of First Nations. This story will be updated with any response.
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