Minister Patty Hajdu announced in Thunder Bay on January 14, 2026, that the federal government would invest more than $850,000 in 14 Indigenous economic development projects, funding engagement, capacity building and knowledge sharing tied to critical minerals clean energy and transportation infrastructure across the region.
The announcement in Thunder Bay
On January 14, Patty Hajdu, Minister of Jobs and Families and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario, known as FedNor, announced a total investment of over $850,000 in 14 Indigenous economic development projects. Hajdu made the announcement in Thunder Bay on behalf of Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
According to the federal government’s January 14 release, reported by Canadian Manufacturing, the funding will support engagement, capacity-building and knowledge-sharing activities tied to critical minerals-related clean energy and transportation infrastructure projects. The stated aim is to create opportunities that respect traditional territories and strengthen local economies, supporting shared prosperity and Indigenous-led growth across northern Ontario and beyond.
“Supporting Indigenous-led initiatives goes beyond economic reconciliation. Northern Ontario is stronger when Indigenous leadership and knowledge help shape our shared future, creates good jobs, and builds sustainable economies, and partnerships across the region,” Hajdu said.
How the money is structured
The federal backgrounder published the same day clarifies what kind of money this is. The 14 projects were funded under the Indigenous Grants stream of the Critical Minerals Infrastructure Fund, or CMIF, representing a total federal investment of over $850,000.
The CMIF itself supports building and deploying the clean energy and transportation infrastructure needed to develop and expand critical minerals in Canada. The Indigenous Grants stream is narrower: it funds capacity building and knowledge gathering and sharing activities related to those infrastructure projects. It is not, in itself, construction financing.
That distinction is the key to understanding the announcement. Grants of this size — the backgrounder lists individual awards such as $150,000 and $50,000 — pay for a community’s own people, advisers and processes: reviewing project proposals, gathering knowledge, visiting sites and coordinating with governments and proponents. Without that capacity, consultation can become a paper exercise in which a community is asked to respond to complex technical projects without the staff or expertise to assess them.
Hajdu described that problem directly in local coverage of the announcement, calling it “like a chicken and an egg problem. How can you say you’re going to consult and engage and include First Nations if the capacity isn’t there to be able to do that?”
Where the projects are
Although the announcement was made in Ontario, the backgrounder shows a wider footprint. It lists, for example, a $150,000 award to Treaty Creek Limited Partnership, a 50/50 partnership between the Tahltan Nation and the Nisga’a Nation northwest of Stewart, British Columbia, to engage on clean energy and transportation infrastructure for the Seabridge Gold KSM copper project. Another listed project, at Anyox, British Columbia, received $50,000 for an Indigenous-led review of a hydroelectric dam redevelopment through site visits and engagement. Local coverage likewise described the grants as reaching Indigenous-led projects in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
In Ontario, local coverage highlighted the Greenstone Transmission Line, meant to bring higher-capacity electrical infrastructure to northern Ontario Indigenous communities. Six communities — Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, Aroland First Nation, Animbiigoo Zaagi’igan Anishinaabek, Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, Ginoogaming First Nation and the Red Rock Indian Band — were each to receive $50,000 to expand their capacity for undertaking such projects. Chief Paul Gladu of Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek has advocated for co-operation between Indigenous communities in the region to make Ring of Fire developments happen, the coverage noted.
Why Ottawa links engagement to critical minerals
Critical minerals cannot be developed in Canada without roads, power lines and processing capacity, much of it proposed on or near Indigenous territories. Federal policy now treats early Indigenous participation as a condition for projects moving ahead, not a step added at the end. Communities with their own capacity can negotiate benefits, assess environmental effects and decide on their own terms whether a project proceeds. Hajdu, who previously served as Minister of Indigenous Services, argued that things can be done in “better, faster, safer” ways when everyone works together.
The January 14 grants will not build a transmission line or a road on their own. Their test is whether the 14 recipient organizations can turn relatively small awards into lasting staff, knowledge and negotiating strength before the much larger critical minerals decisions arrive.
