Drumbeats - Canadian Indigenous Investment Podcast

Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum
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WELCOME TO DRUMBEATS Drumbeats is the must-listen podcast for investors interested in Indigenous investment in Canada. Born from the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum, the show focuses on the nexus of Indigenous economic strategies and investment opportunities. Hosts Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant, co-chairs of the Summit, lead engaging interviews and expert analyses that explore how these crucial conversations impact economic development within Indigenous communities and beyond.

  1. National Coalition of Chiefs' Dale Swampy on Indigenous-Led Pipelines

    3d ago

    National Coalition of Chiefs' Dale Swampy on Indigenous-Led Pipelines

    For institutional investors weighing Canadian energy and infrastructure exposure, the framing of Indigenous engagement has fundamentally shifted. The new question isn't whether First Nations will support projects. It's whether they will lead them. In this episode of Drumbeats, hosts Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant speak with Dale Swampy, President of the National Coalition of Chiefs, a body representing eighty-one First Nations chiefs across Canada with a mandate to defeat on-reserve poverty through major resource development. Dale brings two decades of front-line pipeline consultation experience, including his role leading the Aboriginal Equity Partners process for the Northern Gateway pipeline. He breaks down why, contrary to the prevailing media narrative, thirty-one of forty directly affected First Nations communities signed on as supporters of that project, including a thirty-three percent ownership stake unlike anything seen on a Canadian pipeline since. In this conversation, you'll discover: Why Northern Gateway 2.0 will only proceed as a First Nations-led project, and what that means for the capital structure of the next generation of Canadian export infrastructureHow the Coalition Model has produced multi-billion-dollar Indigenous asset acquisitions in upstream and midstreamThe strategic case for Kitimat over Prince Rupert as Canada's principal Pacific export terminalWhy over half of Canadians now back domestic fossil fuel production, a sentiment shift that hasn't occurred since before 2015The candid investor view on regulatory ambiguity around free, prior, and informed consent legislationThis is essential intelligence for European institutional investors with allocations to Canadian energy infrastructure, critical minerals, and adjacent sectors, and for advisors structuring transactions where Indigenous participation is now a precondition rather than an afterthought.

    48 min
  2. Canada's Infrastructure Window: Why European Capital Is Moving Now

    Jun 4

    Canada's Infrastructure Window: Why European Capital Is Moving Now

    Indigenous equity. Enbridge. 200MW wind. Six First Nations. 30% equity stake. Institutional-scale Indigenous partnership in Canada. Jake Sinclair is CEO of Cowessess Ventures Ltd and President of Six Nations Energy Development LP, the consortium that negotiated a minimum thirty per cent equity stake in the Seven Stars Wind Project, a two hundred megawatt Enbridge development backed by up to one hundred million Canadian dollars in SIIFC loan guarantees and targeted for operation in 2027. The Seven Stars project is the anchor, but Cowessess Ventures runs a diversified portfolio: a separate two hundred megawatt wind project, a ten megawatt solar facility, biochar processing with the City of Regina, more than one hundred thousand acres of agricultural land, and a one hundred and fifty acre urban holding inside the City of Regina itself. Jake holds existing equity partnerships with UK and German-based investors and is actively seeking further international capital. Recorded at TMX Studios, Toronto. Subscribe to the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum newsletter for exclusive intelligence on Indigenous investment opportunities across Canada.

    34 min
  3. First Nations Bank of Canada's Bill Lomax: zero defaults, scaling fast

    May 28

    First Nations Bank of Canada's Bill Lomax: zero defaults, scaling fast

    Bill Lomax, CEO of First Nations Bank of Canada, on growing a Schedule I Indigenous-owned bank to $5.4B AUM with a near-zero default record. Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant sit down with Bill at the TMX Market Centre in Toronto during the FNMPC annual conference. Founded in 1996 with TD Bank as regulatory sponsor and now approximately 91% Indigenous-owned, First Nations Bank of Canada marks its 30th year in 2026. Under Bill's leadership the trust business has grown from roughly $800 million to $1.4 billion in assets under management, and the bank's current equity raise has already exceeded its $50 million target ahead of close. What this episode covers: Credit profile and partnership architecture: a near-zero default rate and a $25 million lending cap multiplied through co-financing with the Canada Infrastructure Bank, BDC, and EDC.The $1.5 trillion Canadian SME succession opportunity, and why First Nations economic development corporations are emerging as long-hold buyers that preserve management and legacy where private equity does not.Sectors moving fastest under the Carney government's major projects agenda, with Bill flagging defence as an opportunity most Nations have yet to position for.Drumbeats is the podcast of the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum. More at canadianindigenousinvestmentforum.org.

    37 min
  4. Aviva Investors on Canada's Next Structural Infrastructure Cycle

    May 21

    Aviva Investors on Canada's Next Structural Infrastructure Cycle

    Aviva Investors' Head of Infrastructure Debt, Darryl Murphy, brings nearly three decades of European institutional capital experience to a frank assessment of Canada's Indigenous infrastructure investment market. In a conversation recorded shortly after the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit 2026 at the London Stock Exchange, Darryl explains why he believes capital is not the constraint on this opportunity set, and what the European debt market needs to see before deploying at scale. In this episode, recorded with hosts Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant, Darryl covers: Why Aviva treats Canada as a core geography alongside the United Kingdom and Ireland, and how that shapes infrastructure debt appetiteWhy investment-grade construction-phase debt, including greenfield exposure, sits well within Aviva Investors' mandate, and the conditions required to deliver itHow the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, the First Nations Finance Authority, the Canada Infrastructure Bank and Longhouse Capital, alongside Canadian banks and specialist advisors, are building a credible institutional ecosystem for packaging Indigenous infrastructure opportunitiesThe structural parallel between Indigenous infrastructure investment and earlier institutional cycles such as P3 and renewables, and why this opportunity should not be treated as a minority sportTo follow Drumbeats and access further intelligence on Canadian Indigenous investment opportunities, subscribe through your preferred podcast platform and visit the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum online.

    38 min
  5. London Calling: Global Investors for Indigenous-Led Projects

    May 14

    London Calling: Global Investors for Indigenous-Led Projects

    OMERS President and Chief Executive Officer Blake Hutcheson on Canadian capital deployment, Indigenous equity structures, and the pricing case for major project debt. Recorded in front of a live audience at the First Nations Major Projects Coalition's annual event in late April. Blake Hutcheson, President and Chief Executive Officer of OMERS, has put a clear number on the page for international investors. At least $10 billion of additional Canadian deployment over the next five years, with a stated intention to lift Canada's share of the portfolio meaningfully above its current 20%. OMERS is one of Canada's Maple 8, managing approximately $155 billion in equity for 665,000 Ontarians, with a global portfolio operating across 14 time zones. In this conversation with Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant, Hutcheson sets out: Why OMERS is finding Canada more investable than it has been in recent decadesHow the Bruce Power isotopes joint venture financing was priced at levels comparable to Government of Canada and Government of Ontario notes, and why this matters as a prototype for Indigenous-partnered infrastructure debtThe $90 billion annual delta between current Canadian defence spend and the 2035 NATO target, and why the move from 70% foreign procurement to 70% domestic creates an addressable opportunity set across industrials and infrastructureWhy First Nations are no longer accepting one-off cheques and are demanding equity positions in the businesses operating on their territoriesThe competitive gap with the United States on corporate tax, depreciation rules, and treaty arrangementsHutcheson runs OMERS on a fiduciary mandate that he describes plainly. "If we're playing jump ball with opportunities in England or Australia or the US or Canada, we really do try to weight more heavily for Canada, but not because we're being nice about it." The math has to work first. For UK and continental European Managing Directors in Leveraged Finance, Debt Capital Markets, Infrastructure Finance, and Industrials coverage, this is a direct read on capital allocation thinking from inside the Maple 8.

    34 min
  6. Uranium, Potash, and Forty-Seven Million Back to the Band: Ron Hyggen on Kitsaki

    May 7

    Uranium, Potash, and Forty-Seven Million Back to the Band: Ron Hyggen on Kitsaki

    For forty years, Kitsaki Management Limited Partnership built one of Canada's largest Indigenous enterprise groups without external debt or outside equity. Kitsaki now operates 12 companies and 21 subsidiaries, employs over 2,000 people, and has distributed $47 million back to the 12,900 members of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. In this episode of Drumbeats, hosts Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant speak with CEO Ron Hyggen about how Kitsaki reached this scale across Saskatchewan's uranium and potash sectors, and why it is now opening to external capital for the first time in its history. You'll learn: How Kitsaki built a full-service platform working with Cameco, Orano, Nutrien, Mosaic, and BHPA governance model that keeps chief and council in the boardroom under director-level fiduciary dutiesWhy Kitsaki is now borrowing externally and exploring equity participation in Canada's critical minerals strategyWhat any prospective partner needs to bring: alignment with the nation's interests, willingness to negotiate rather than dictate, and a long-term orientationForty years of self-funded growth. Now ready to talk to outside capital, on its own terms.

    40 min
  7. Why Global Investors Are Backing Canada's Indigenous Equity Model

    Apr 30

    Why Global Investors Are Backing Canada's Indigenous Equity Model

    Adam Matthews is the Chief Responsible Investment Officer at the Church of England Pensions Board. He plays a key role in how major institutional investors assess mining companies and evaluate Canada’s Indigenous equity partnership model as part of how they allocate capital. He also chairs the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030, a coalition of 125 institutional investors managing about $19 trillion in assets, working to define how responsible investment in mining is properly applied and to translate those standards into investment practice. In this episode of Drumbeats, Adam Matthews explains how institutional investors are building and applying risk and governance frameworks that shape responsible investment in mining, and how those frameworks are increasingly used to assess Indigenous partnership structures in Canada. In this conversation, you'll learn: Why mining matters more to the global economy than what most investment portfolios showWhat the Global Investor Commission on Mining 2030 is doing to reshape standards for responsible miningThe difference between real Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and simple box-ticking compliance, and how investors tell them apartHow a new Investor Mining Performance Framework is being built to link Indigenous rights and mining standards to how investments are assessedWhy Canada’s Indigenous equity partnership model is getting more attention from large global investorsHow global politics against ESG are affecting long-term investment strategies in the UK and EuropeThis is why Canada’s Indigenous equity partnership model is gaining attention from global investors. It is being recognised as a practical benchmark for responsible mining, and is increasingly being built into the frameworks that shape how institutional capital evaluates mining projects.

    39 min
  8. $250M In: Arctic Gateway's Chris Avery on Churchill's Investment Case

    Apr 23

    $250M In: Arctic Gateway's Chris Avery on Churchill's Investment Case

    The Port of Churchill is operational. Canada's only deepwater Arctic seaport, owned entirely by 29 First Nations and 12 northern Manitoba communities, has shipped critical minerals to European markets for two consecutive shipping seasons. Chris Avery, President and CEO of the Arctic Gateway Group, joins Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant on Drumbeats to set out the commercial case for European institutional capital. In this episode: Over $250 million in federal and provincial funding through the Port of Churchill Plus initiative is clearing the path for private capital entryA formal cooperation agreement with the Port of Antwerp-Bruges anchors Churchill's European trade pathwayDirect rail connection to the North American Class One network, the only Arctic seaport with that integrationAvery also explains why Churchill saves two to five days of shipping time over alternative North America to Europe routes, how research is extending the Arctic shipping season, and the ten-year ambition to make Churchill Canada's next major port. As Avery puts it, the asset is in the first inning.

    39 min
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About

WELCOME TO DRUMBEATS Drumbeats is the must-listen podcast for investors interested in Indigenous investment in Canada. Born from the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum, the show focuses on the nexus of Indigenous economic strategies and investment opportunities. Hosts Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant, co-chairs of the Summit, lead engaging interviews and expert analyses that explore how these crucial conversations impact economic development within Indigenous communities and beyond.

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