Meet the members of Mark Carney’s new Indigenous Advisory Council

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new Indigenous Advisory Council is shrouded in questions and criticisms, but some appointees are optimistic.

Carney announced the 11 members of the council, intended to help advance major projects, on September 10. There are seven First Nations, two Métis and two Inuit representatives serving a two-year term.

How Carney selected the council’s members is unclear.

When asked, Pierre Cuguen, a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office, said the individuals were selected “after consultation with various stakeholders, including Indigenous partners.” His emailed statement did not name any Indigenous partners and he did not respond to a follow-up asking for examples. 

“The council members will help guide the Major Project Office’s work to ensure that major projects create opportunities for equity ownership and responsible resource management through meaningful participation with Indigenous Peoples,” Cuguen said, adding they bring “deep experience” and leadership skills.

The Assembly of First Nations called out the federal government for not consulting with the AFN on council appointments. Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson released a statement panning the fact there is no First Nations representative from Manitoba on the advisory council and other organizations, and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew echoed that concern.

Bill C-5 critic makes the cut

Many appointees come from a business background but one council member in particular – Treaty 8 First Nations Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi – was a vocal critic of Carney’s major projects legislation. 

Mercredi condemned Bill C-5 when it was rushed through Parliament in June, calling it the latest in an “ongoing pattern of legislative overreach, constitutional neglect, and Treaty violations.”  

Mercredi declined a request to comment but the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta posted a statement on Facebook addressing Mercredi’s appointment and emphasizing that this role does not create consensus, nor bind any Nation to a collective position, noting not every nation supports this appointment or the Indigenous Advisory Council as a whole.

“This Council is a tool, it cannot substitute the direct consultations with First Nations,” the statement from Treaty 8 Chiefs reads.

For his part, Mercredi said his participation will be guided directly by the mandate of Treaty 8 Chiefs and focused on holding Canada accountable to its constitutional and treaty obligations. 

“I do not replace the voice of the First Nations; I carry forward the Chiefs’ concerns and priorities,” Mercredi said in the written statement. Treaty 8 territory includes parts of the Northwest Territories alongside large swaths of northern BC and northern Alberta, plus a smaller portion of northwestern Saskatchewan. 

Alberta’s oil sands mines operate on Treaty 8 territory and there could be more major developments on the horizon. Carney is considering adding the Pathways Alliance’s $16.5-billion proposal to his list of the major projects under the council’s purview. 

The proposed Pathways megaproject would pipe carbon dioxide captured from oil sands sites in northern Alberta to an underground storage site south of Cold Lake.

Carney also floated the possibility of building another pipeline carrying “decarbonized” oil if the project comes to fruition.

This all promises to be contentious. Last year, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam, whose territory would be affected by the Pathways Alliance project, raised safety, health and environmental concerns about the proposal.

Heavy on business leaders

The goal of Carney’s major projects push is to build a stronger Canadian economy and the advisory council is stacked with First Nations, Métis and Inuit people with expertise in economic development.

Among the business leaders appointed to the council is Matt Vermette, currently the CEO of Métis Nation-Saskatchewan, Whitecap Dakota First Nation Chief Darcy Bear, recognized for his work on community development, and Crystal Smith, former Chief of the Haisla Nation. 

Under Smith’s leadership, the Haisla Nation – in partnership with Pembina Pipeline Corporation – became a majority owner of the $6-billion Cedar LNG project, a floating LNG export terminal scheduled to begin exporting product in 2028.

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Membertou First Nation Chief Terry Paul was also tapped for the advisory council and previously led several acquisitions in Nova Scotia along with his 41 years of leadership. Another economically savvy appointee is Lorne Pelletier, who currently serves as senior economic advisor at the Manitoba Métis Federation. (There are no NWT-based members on the council.)

Council member JP Gladu, from Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek in Ontario, boasts some serious business acumen, particularly in the natural resources sector. Despite the heavy business focus among appointees, he doesn’t expect there to be easy consensus around the council table.

“We all come with our own experiences and backgrounds and we’re not all going to agree,” Gladu told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview. 

“That’s what I love about this type of advisory board work: We’re going to help inform each other,” he said, with the common goal to share perspectives and experiences “to advance projects that make sense.”

The federal government wants to move quickly but there is a “broad spectrum” of views in Indigenous communities, Gladu said. Some have had “a really great experience” in resource and infrastructure development and are eager to move projects forward, but not all communities have had a good experience and “the biggest challenges are going to be around speed and efficiency.”

Communities need to be well-informed and resourced, with enough capacity or “fuel in the tank” to keep up with and get ahead of these conversations, he emphasized. 

“The First Nations that I’ve been talking to are excited to see projects advance, because this is their chance at some economic opportunity and with some oversight from their communities. They’re feeling optimistic,” Gladu said.

He would not divulge the First Nations with which he has been in talks, but said the proposed Yukon-BC grid connection project would be an “easy slam-dunk project.” Carney’s first tranche of major projects included the Red Chris Mine expansion, which is also a terminus substation of the North American power grid and could be connected to Watson Lake, Yukon, to connect the territory to southern electricity.

Gladu sees the advisory council’s role as “supplementary,” to help the government and Major Projects Office understand the best way to work with communities. Every situation is different, Gladu said, and every community has different concerns and priorities, whether it is equity, job guarantees, procurement, royalties or land oversight.

“We’re not final decision-makers on this,” he said.

“When Indigenous communities are afforded the opportunity to lead, things get done. If we’re put back in the corner or outside the circle, we’re going to fight everything.”

He expects the biggest issue regarding much of this work will be around environmental and land oversight and says it is critical to prioritize Indigenous knowledge and processes to overcome these concerns.

From a First Nations perspective, Gladu thinks “we’ve got to come to the table with more of an open mind” that industry and government will do things differently, which is “very difficult when that trust has been broken.”

Entrepreneur and businesswoman Victoria LaBillois is bringing her experience navigating the business world to the advisory council. Hailing from Listuguj Mi’gmaq First Nation, Labillois is also a board member at Hydro Quebec.

“For decades now, for way too long, we have been reduced to spectators to the regional economy on our traditional territories,” she told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview. 

It is still too early to see exactly how the Indigenous Advisory Council will operate but, like other council members, LaBillois emphasized that it is not meant as a substitute or replacement for the federal government’s duty to consult.

“We’re just prodding and asking relevant questions: ‘Have you considered this? What about the impact of man camps and the repercussions on Indigenous women?’ as an example,” said LaBillois.

“What about giving voice to the winged ones, the finned ones, the four legged? They’re affected by these decisions.”

‘Just another distraction’

Along with critiques of who is and is not represented on the Indigenous Advisory Council, some critics reject the premise of the council altogether.

“It feels as though this … advisory council is just another distraction away from actually talking about meaningful sovereignty and self-determination,” said Eriel Tchekwie Deranger, executive director of Indigenous Climate Action.

“It is not exhaustive of the over 700 Indigenous communities that exist across the country,” Deranger said.

Deranger questioned whether the council will have any power and wondered, “if they do have power, who are they truly representing?” 

“They were not chosen by Indigenous peoples,” she said. “They were chosen by the federal colonial government.”

Vanessa Doig, one of the council’s two Inuit representatives, said the four rights-holding organizations for all Inuit in Canada were consulted and given the opportunity to discuss who they wanted at the table and put names forward for consideration.

Doig is assistant director of the President’s Department of Makivvik, the Inuit Treaty Organization representing the northern region of Nunavik. The second Inuk representative is Christy Sinclair, a policy analyst at Nunavut Tunngavik Inc, from Taloyoak, Nunavut.

Deranger fears the council will help the federal government “tick that checkbox of consultation” as opposed to actually striving for true, free, prior and informed consent, which is defined as a bare minimum standard for upholding Indigenous rights in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

“We cannot be stacking a council with people that are going to be diplomatic when this country has not been diplomatic to respecting and upholding the rights of Indigenous peoples,” Deranger said. 

Deranger pointed out that one council member – Gladu – also sits on Suncor’s board of directors, “which feels like a conflict of interest.”

Gladu, for his part, said he will recuse himself from any discussions that involve Suncor or any other board positions he holds. For example, if the advisory council ends up discussing the Pathways Alliance’s proposed carbon capture megaproject, he will recuse himself because Suncor is a member of the Pathways Alliance.

Deranger emphasized this is not about criticizing advisory council members. 

“This is about a system and a structure that tries to make us want to point out the flaws of the individuals on here, rather than point out the flaws of the systems that have created this advisory council that is just a bunch of bureaucracy to keep us busy, while they can continue to fast-track projects,” she said.

Earlier this month, Indigenous services minister Mandy Gull-Masty told The Canadian Press the goal of the advisory council wasn’t to represent every Nation but to gather a variety of people with different backgrounds and perspectives to advise the government on how communities want to move forward with projects.

“It’s valid to be concerned given historical wrongdoings, given the inherent mistrust that a lot of Indigenous people have in government,” Doig, a council member from Makivvik, told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview.

“But I think the risk was higher to not be involved in this process than it was to be involved,” she said, adding that when a project is put forward, the council will be there to remind the federal government of its obligations, including the duty to consult.

Sometimes, advisory committees function in a more symbolic role without real ability to influence or contribute to decision-making processes, but she is hopeful that will not be the case for the Indigenous Advisory Council.

“I’m not really someone to mince words,” Doig said, adding it will be the council’s responsibility to keep considerations about culture, self-determination and climate change at the forefront.

Climate change impacts are felt acutely in the North and “the impact on the climate and the environment is going to be hugely important for any project that could impact Indigenous groups,” Doig said.

Climate change can impact food insecurity, transportation, cultural practices, education, housing and more, and these impacts often hit Indigenous communities hard, she said.

“There’s a domino effect for any action that’s taken in the North, and so … we have to minimize as much negative impact as possible,” Doig said. 

Advisory council member Kluane Adamek stickhandled national files on climate change, environment, water, modern treaties and health during her seven years as AFN Yukon Regional Chief.