Oilpatch companies spent billions on Indigenous-affiliated businesses: survey

Lauren Krugel · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Jun 19, 2025 2:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Oilpatch companies are large spenders connected Indigenous-affiliated businesses, according to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers released Thursday.

Data subject steadfast iTotem Analytics collected figures from 12 members of the manufacture advocacy radical that unneurotic correspond fractional of Alberta's lipid and earthy state production.

They collectively spent $14.4 cardinal betwixt 2021 and 2023 connected goods and services from Indigenous-affiliated businesses, which iTotem defines arsenic an endeavor with immoderate grade of First Nations, Métis or Inuit ownership.

The immense bulk of those funds — $13.9 cardinal — were spent successful Alberta.

"Working collaboratively with Indigenous communities and businesses, the lipid and earthy state manufacture tin enactment economical reconciliation and prosperity for generations to come," CAPP president and CEO Lisa Baiton said successful a quality release.

During the three-year play captured successful the study, astir 18 per cent of the industry's proviso concatenation spending was directed to Indigenous-affiliated vendors.

In Alberta the CAPP members did concern with 585 Indigenous-affiliated enterprises crossed 110 municipalities and 45 Indigenous communities.

Most of the spending was connected operation vendors, followed by biology and concern discarded services and instrumentality services and maintenance.

John Desjarlais, enforcement manager of the Indigenous Resource Network, praised CAPP for holding itself accountable regarding its commitments to Indigenous communities.

"As tin beryllium seen, the interaction is sizeable and, arsenic we person seen successful our enactment and done our members, 1 of the large drivers of self-determination is done economical reconciliation," Desjarlais said successful the release.

Crystal Quocksister, lawsuit work manager astatine iTotem and an Indigenous information subject entrepreneur, said the enactment with CAPP was astir manufacture transparency and checking the numbers.

"There's inactive enactment to do," she said successful the release.

"But I'm hopeful, due to the fact that I spot a shared committedness from Indigenous communities, entrepreneurs, and manufacture to signifier the aboriginal of assets improvement together. And the numbers amusement this to beryllium true."

Staffers of Indigenous descent marque up 7 per cent of the lipid and state workforce — good supra the nationalist mean of conscionable nether 4 per cent, CAPP said.

In an onstage interrogation astatine the Global Energy Show successful Calgary past week, the main enforcement astatine Crown-owned pipeline relation Trans Mountain Corp. said it's worthwhile to prosecute Indigenous contractors not lone due to the fact that they're Indigenous, but "they're truly bully astatine what they do."

"The Indigenous portion would beryllium a bonus, truthful to speak," Mark Maki said. "But they're bully astatine immoderate it is we're asking them to do."

In British Columbia, First Nations person been playing a cardinal relation successful liquefied earthy state projects successful development.

One of those is the Haisla Nation, which owns conscionable implicit fractional of the Cedar LNG task nether operation successful Kitimat, B.C., alongside Pembina Pipeline Corp.

Haisla Chief Crystal Smith told the Global Energy Show past week that there's a misconception that Indigenous groups are an obstacle to development.

"We're not a problem," she said. "We're really the solution."