June is National Indigenous History Month, a time to recognize the histories, cultures, leadership, and contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples across Canada. It is also an opportunity to reflect on how Indigenous partnership is evolving within Canada’s waterpower sector. For many years, conversations about Indigenous participation in energy development often focused on consultation, accommodation, and impact management. While those conversations remain important, they no longer tell the full story.
Across Canada, Indigenous Nations and communities are increasingly shaping the future of energy development as owners, employers, business partners, environmental stewards, workforce leaders, and decision-makers. The examples featured in our new report, Paths Forward: Partnership Pathways in Canadian Hydropower, demonstrate that partnership is becoming more diverse, more community-driven, and more deeply integrated into how projects are conceived, delivered, and operated.
What emerges from these stories is not a single model for partnership, but a broader shift in how partnership itself is being understood.
Partnership Is No Longer One Thing
One of the clearest lessons from the report is that meaningful partnership can take many forms.
In Nunavik, the Innavik Hydro project was developed through a 50-50 partnership between Pituvik Landholding Corporation and Innergex. The project is helping reduce Inukjuak’s reliance on diesel while creating long-term economic participation and local decision-making authority through Indigenous ownership. Rather than being limited to consultation or benefit agreements, the partnership is rooted in shared ownership of critical energy infrastructure and the long-term revenues that flow from it.
In northwestern Ontario, the partnership between Wabaseemong Independent Nations and Kiewit demonstrates a different pathway. There, partnership was expressed through Indigenous procurement, workforce participation, community investment, and relationship-building over the course of a major dam rehabilitation project. Fifty per cent of the project scope was awarded to a local Indigenous contractor, while Indigenous workers completed more than one-third of the total self-performed hours. The result was not only successful project delivery, but also investments in local infrastructure, recreation, and long-term community capacity.
The details differ, but the underlying principle is the same: communities are increasingly participating in energy development in ways that reflect their own priorities and aspirations.
Looking Beyond the Infrastructure
Another theme running throughout the report is that partnership increasingly extends beyond the asset itself. Hydropower projects are often discussed in terms of megawatts, transmission lines, generating stations, and construction schedules. Yet many of the examples featured in Paths Forward are ultimately about people, relationships, and community outcomes.
At Ontario Power Generation’s Saunders Hydro Dam Visitor Centre, for example, a collaborative garden project developed with Akwesasne partners has become a space for cultural education, language preservation, environmental stewardship, and cross-cultural learning. Interpretive signage in Mohawk, educational programming, traditional medicine gardens, and partnerships with local schools have transformed the site into a living classroom that helps share Indigenous knowledge with future generations.
The project reminds us that partnership is not always measured in ownership percentages or procurement dollars. Sometimes it is reflected in the creation of spaces that foster understanding, visibility, and connection. Similarly, Hydro-Québec’s work with Indigenous communities highlights how workforce development and organizational change are becoming increasingly important dimensions of reconciliation. Through internships, mentorship, targeted recruitment initiatives, and support programs for Indigenous employees, the utility is helping create pathways into careers across the energy sector while also working to make its own organization more inclusive and culturally responsive.
These examples suggest that successful partnerships are increasingly being evaluated not only by what gets built, but by who participates, who benefits, and what opportunities are created along the way.
Relationships Are the Work
Perhaps the most important lesson from this year’s report is that meaningful partnership cannot be rushed. Every story in the report reflects years of relationship-building, ongoing dialogue, and continued collaboration. Trust was not established through a single agreement or project milestone. It was built through consistent engagement, shared problem-solving, and a willingness to learn from one another over time.
This is particularly important in a sector where infrastructure often operates for generations. Hydropower facilities are long-term assets. The relationships surrounding them are long-term as well. That reality is evident throughout the report. Whether it is Indigenous ownership in Nunavik, workforce training initiatives in Manitoba, cultural education projects in Akwesasne, or procurement partnerships in Wabaseemong, the common thread is a focus on creating benefits that extend beyond the immediate life of a project and contribute to broader community priorities over time.
Looking Ahead
Canada is entering a period of significant electricity growth. Governments, utilities, Indigenous Nations, industries, and communities are preparing for major investments in generation, transmission, storage, and grid modernization. Meeting those ambitions will require capital, technology, skilled workers, and effective regulatory frameworks. It will also require strong partnerships.
The stories featured in Paths Forward do not present a single blueprint for success. Nor do they suggest that the work is complete. What they do illustrate is a broader evolution taking place across Canada’s waterpower sector, one in which Indigenous Nations and communities are increasingly helping shape projects as partners, owners, employers, stewards, and leaders.
The pathways forward will look different in every community. What remains constant is the importance of relationships built on trust, respect, shared benefit, and long-term commitment.
Paths Forward: Partnership Pathways in Canadian Hydropower will be released on June 22, 2026.