Canada Infrastructure Bank surpasses $1 billion mark in funding to Indigenous projects

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has reached a major milestone, but officials from the Crown corporation insist they will not be resting on their laurels.

The CIB has officially surpassed the $1 billion mark in funding for Indigenous projects across the country. Launched in 2017 to financially support revenue-generating infrastructure projects across the country, the CIB’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative (ICII) began in 2021.

In 2023, the ICII’s early successes led the CIB to add another stream of funding called the Indigenous Equity Initiative (IEI). The IEI stream provides loans to Indigenous communities so they can buy equity in energy and electricity projects.

A total of 28 Indigenous projects have been funded through the two streams so far.

“We are not done at all,” said Hillary Thatcher, the CIB’s director of Indigenous and Northern investments. “It’s very much a moment to celebrate, but just a step in a journey.”

Ehren Cory, the CIB’s chief executive officer, is thrilled that a major funding barrier has been surpassed.

“We are incredibly proud… The incredible need for infrastructure in Indigenous communities is really well known. It's been talked about a lot. And it's real.”

The fact that CIB has hit the $1 billion mark in funding is not that surprising to Cory.

“Communities have been asking for, demanding, economic participation in the infrastructure in their traditional territories for a long time,” he said. “So, it shouldn't be surprising.”

When the CIB was created, Canada’s parliament authorized appropriations of $35 billion for an 11-year period ending with the 2027-28 fiscal year.

“Our job is to invest that fund to get more infrastructure built in this country,” Thatcher said.

She believes it only makes sense the CIB has frequently stepped up and assisted Indigenous projects.

“I think the simplest answer is that the CIB was created as a tool to close gaps, and we see gaps that happen in and with Indigenous communities and their access to capital at times,” she said. “So, whether or not they have equities, normally that down payment that they just don't have available to them. So, they have to borrow their equity. And they can do that through our direct loans.

She notes that the Assembly of First Nations has calculated that the infrastructure gap facing First Nations is around $500 billion.

“Like huge numbers,” Thatcher said. “You probably know what the grant programs look like in Canada. But they're not $500 billion for infrastructure.”

Thatcher said the CIB is willing to assist Indigenous projects as best it can.

“Communities want to move on their infrastructure needs,” she said. “They want to meet their infrastructure needs faster. And so, we can help do that with our concessionary tools. We have really low-cost borrowing for community-based infrastructure. And we are a very patient capital. We're not trying to get out of the deal in five years. We look at the life of the asset. We look at the contract list and we can be paid back over a longer period of time in order to make the project work for the community.”

Cory said the second stream of funding, IEI, focuses more on economic reconciliation as it provides Indigenous communities with ownership of equities.

The first initiative to receive funding through the IEI stream was a battery storage project in Nova Scotia. A total of 13 Mi’kmaq communities and Nova Scotia Power now own that project.

Thatcher said the CIB receives frequent requests for funding of Indigenous projects.

“We work with projects that fit within our mandate,” she said. “It has to be in one of our five asset classes”—public transit, clean power, green infrastructure, broadband and trade and transportation.

Thatcher anticipates the CIB will continue to fund many more Indigenous initiatives.

“What we're seeing is the capacity, the need for Indigenous communities, is very high,” she said. “The $1 billion is an important milestone. But that's it. We just keep going. And I think that much more of our $35 billion will continue to be committed to Indigenous projects, to loans to Indigenous communities, to own stakes and projects. I think that's just going to be the way of the future.”

More information on the CIB is available at https://cib-bic.ca/

Local Journalism Initiative Reporters are supported by a financial contribution made by the Government of Canada.