Head of new Indigenous committee aims for systemic change at Canada Energy Regulator 

VANCOUVER-The leader of a new Indigenous Advisory Committee at the Canada Energy Regulator says he wants to fix the system of natural resource development in the country that has previously treated First Nations, Inuit and Metis people as an “afterthought.”

Tribal Chief Tyrone McNeil, a Sto:lo member in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley, is the chairman of the committee, which was established by federal government legislation that replaced the National Energy Board with the new regulator in 2019.

Laurentian University engineering grad Kaella-Marie Earle is the vice-chair.. (Photo for Canadian Energy Centre)

The committee met earlier this month to endorse its terms of reference, which say its purpose is to advance reconciliation by transforming the relationship between the regulator and Indigenous Peoples.

Three Committee members are nominated directly by national Indigenous organizations: the Assembly of

First Nations, the Métis National Council and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.  The committee isn’t a decision-making body and doesn’t engage in operational matters, McNeil says it has “tremendous potential” to influence energy projects.

The committee meets with the board regularly, and McNeil says it will help the regulator and companies understand the diverse groups they’re consulting with on the ground. Regulator chairwoman Cassie Doyle says the Indigenous committee will support systemic change in the organization, and its advice will impact how it communicates and collaborates with communities. Board members are listed:

Dr. Marie Delorme is CEO of The Imagination Group of Companies

Chief Harvey McLeod is Chief of the Upper Nicola Indian Band

Nuka Olsen-Hakongak is a Nunavut Inuk from Cambridge Bay  she is working through a Juris Doctor Degree with the Nunavut Law Program of the University of Saskatchewan College of Law affiliated with Nunavut Arctic College

Scott Patles-Richardson is the founder of  Indigenous Financial Solutions

Chief Matthew T. Peigan is Chief of the Pasqua First Nation

Marci Riel is the Senior Director of Energy, Infrastructure and Resource Management at the Manitoba Metis Federation

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 18, 2021.