Rice attends energy summit
Advocating for Indigenous people to have at least 50 percent equity in renewable energy projects was a key message shared by Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) chief Paul Rice at last week's Canadian Renewable Energy Association (CanREA) Summit, where he and other Indigenous leaders spoke with major stakeholders in the industry.
'We're independent, sovereign nations, and in discussions of these projects, we need to be treated as such,' said Rice. 'That was really the message underlying the concept of minimum mandatory equity participation.'
Rice attended the panel last Thursday in Montreal and spoke on the panel 'Indigenous Communities: Essential Actors in the Energy Transition?' which was moderated by Hydro Quebec's Emilie Senechal. He was joined by Jean Roy of Kruger Energy as well as Jacques Tremblay, grand chief of the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk Nation.
Rice said the panel discussion led to productive points about moving forward in renewable energy partnerships while acknowledging the complex history of how major energy players have interacted with First Nations.
'We talked about how these investments need to happen on the renewable energy front, you need to involve nations, you need to fully inform them of the projects and provide financial benefits,' Rice said. 'Historically, these projects were forced on these communities, and it's not until more recently that we're seeing more of those benefits shared with nations.'
Elsewhere at the summit, Rice learned from other stakeholders about energy initiatives that could be of benefit to the community. One area he was particularly interested in was Hydro Quebec's plans for investing more in solar energy.
'It was good to hear some information with respect to solar, and that's a natural next step for the community's renewable energy portfolio,' Rice said. 'We're definitely looking at opportunities to do with solar energy.'
He said that it's important the MCK is well-versed in various types of renewable energy, as it could play a major role in the push for more financial security within the community.
'For us, our objective is to have a number of these projects so that we have multiple streams of income coming into the territory, and we're able to finance multiple projects to generate significant own-source revenue for the community,' he said. 'That supports our objective of financial independence and financial sovereignty, so that we're less reliant on government funding which comes with restrictions and all kinds of paternalistic processes and protocols.'
The MCK has a growing renewable energy portfolio, being the co-owners of the Hertel-New York Transmission Line alongside Hydro Quebec, as well as involvement in the Les Jardins and Des Cultures wind farms.
The summit provides opportunities to network with other major players in the renewable energy world to prepare for more growth in the future, Rice said, something that he also did at the eighth annual First Nations Major Projects (FNMP) Coalition Conference in Toronto at the end of last month.
At that conference, he also led with a strong message that First Nations should have a minimum 50 per cent equity in projects.
'People were very interested, it's still early days in these types of relationships with nations and governments and the private sector talking about wanting to do something more positive, but at the end of the day we're not doing this so that we can get lip service from the government and private sector,' he said. 'We want to make sure that we're receiving more than our fair share from these projects and I want to see the government and private sector put their money where their mouth is.'
eve@easterndoor.com
Eve Cable, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
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