Welcome to Drumbeats, the must -listen -to podcast
which explains why Indigenous partnerships are
the key to securing successful outcomes in natural
resource and infrastructure investment in Canada.
Happy New Year to all our Drumbeats listeners.
Rob and I want to start 2026 by doing something
a little bit different. But before we look at
what's ahead this year, we thought we'd take
a moment to talk about a Canadian tradition that's
quite relevant to this day. the levee right and
mark and happy new year to everybody on all our
listeners the uh the levee as you mentioned is
one of those traditions that not everyone knows
about but it's been part of canadian culture
for a long time it's a tradition that connects
to government military and indigenous communities
so it felt like the right way to begin this episode
And then after that, we're going to take you
through some of the standout guest conversations
we had in 2025 and what a year it was. So we're
calling this episode the best of drumbeats 2025.
I look back at the people and organizations who
shaped the conversation around the Canadian Indigenous
Investment Summit in the past year. And then
we'll wrap up with a few thoughts on what's ahead
for 2026. So let's start with the levy. The levee
tradition in Canada goes back farther than most
people realize. The very first levee in what
would become Canada was held in 1606 by Samuel
de Champlain at Port Royal. And now Annapolis
Royal in Nova Scotia. The first levee took place
on New Year's Day, 1 January 1606. And a Mi 'kmaq
chief from Member 2 attended that first levee,
making Indigenous participation part of the tradition
from the very beginning. The word levee comes
from the French verb lever, or levee, meaning
to rise, referring to the practice of receiving
visitors upon waking. It was a gathering where
the community came together to mark the new year.
And what's significant is this wasn't just a
European tradition transplanted Canada. From
that first gathering in 1606, as you mentioned,
Indigenous leaders were present. It's about building
relationships. showing respect and marking important
moments together. And I think it's so fitting
with what we learned over the past year, Rob,
that Chief Member 2's presence at the first levee
established a precedent for Indigenous participation
across all walks of life, as we learned. Over
the century, the tradition has evolved through
military and government institutions. Governor
General, Lieutenant Governors and Military Commanders
held levees at open door receptions. And in recent
years, some indigenous nations have reclaimed
and reinterpreted the tradition, hosting their
own levee, sovereignty and cultural presence.
And I just have to mention, I really grew up
with this because my father, Rob, as you know,
is a retired lieutenant colonel. So, you know,
New Year's Day was definitely a levee at the
officer's mess and gathering that was part of
life. And when it came to the UK, it was like,
well, they don't have a levee on New Year's Day.
So on this New Year's Day, as we reflect on the
year that was and look ahead, it feels fitting
to acknowledge that tradition and what it represents.
Gathering, relationship building, and moving
forward together. And that's been at the heart
of the conversations we've had on Drumbeat since
we started Robin 2024, continued in this past
year. Absolutely right, Mark. With that in mind,
let's move into the heart of this episode. the
best conversations we had in 2025. 2025 was a
remarkable year for the Canadian Indigenous Investment
Summit. With the privilege of speaking with some
of the most influential leaders in the space,
people are building the infrastructure, creating
the partnerships, and changing the way capital
flows into Indigenous communities. And these
weren't just conversations. They were insight
into how the landscape is actually changing and
how doing business in Canada is changing. Each
guest brought lived experience, specific knowledge,
and a clear sense of where things were heading.
It was really exciting. So we've selected the
top 10 guest episodes based on audience engagement
and what resonated most with our listeners because
every one of our conversations was exciting.
Yes, and what you're about to hear are highlights
from those conversations. We've kept them brief,
but each one captures a key moment or insight
that we think is worth revisiting. as we head
into 2026. Here's Clint Davis, CEO of Cedar Leaf
Capital, who explains how it became the first
Indigenous majority -owned investment dealer
in Canada, supported throughout the process by
Scotiabank. It actually started about two, two
and a half years ago. And it was a pull from
the market. So it wasn't coming from the Indigenous
business leadership at the time. from one of
the major financial institutions or anything
of that nature. But it was a major resource company
in Canada, and they were issuing securities bonds
in the United States. And in the U .S., you actually
have a really quite a decent, growing, robust
ecosystem. of investment dealers that have unique
ownership. And so that ownership represents minorities
from African American, Latino American, and tribal,
as well as women, veterans, people with disabilities.
And so these are investment dealers that bring
a unique perspective to syndicates, as well as
opening up new avenues for investors. And so
many of the companies that are Canadian companies
that actually issue in the United States have
used these minority dealers. And so this resource
company asked the question as to whether or not
anything like that existed in Canada. And if
so, if it was indigenous, that they would give
serious consideration to working with that company.
And so that was expressed to Scotiabank. And
so Scotiabank did some research, realized very
quickly that, in fact, There wasn't any type
of dealer that had that unique ownership. And
they thought to themselves that what we should
be looking at is in alignment with reconciliation,
that we should stand one up so that we can provide
it with the necessary footing, foundation, and
so that ultimately you'd have a 100 % Indigenous
-owned and controlled investment dealer. Next
up is Matt Smith. who was at the time CEO of
the Saskatchewan Indigenous Investment Finance
Corporation. He discusses how their loan guarantee
addresses longstanding barriers to Indigenous
access to capital. So SIFSI, we kind of alternate
between calling it SIFSI and SIFSI, but it kind
of came about, I would say, the government of
Saskatchewan recognized that... you know, existing
barriers to access to capital for Indigenous
people in the province were really preventing
them from, you know, yielding the full benefits
of some of the projects that were occurring here
in the province. And so in about 2021, 2022,
we began work on exploring what the opportunities
were to support increased access to capital for
Indigenous communities in the province through
kind of some research. and conversations and
leadership from six Indigenous business leaders
from Saskatchewan who helped guide us through
that process. You know, we kind of identified
the loan guarantees, our loan guarantee program
being probably the best fit to help support that
increased participation. We received a lot of
advice and support from our friends to the west
in Alberta, from the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities
Corporation, who were really kind of the frontrunner
in this space. And Shannon and her team continue
to be just really great mentors and resources
and supporters of us. So we're very fortunate
in that space. So just as a bit of background,
Indigenous people for a broad range of reasons.
particularly through the Indian Act and some
other legislation, aren't able to utilize any
of their kind of assets as collateral for investments.
And as a result, they've had challenges accessing
capital or in instances where they can't access
capital. The rates are really non -competitive
and really impact the overall viability of the
investment or certainly drastically reduce the
potential returns from those investments. A loan
guarantee from the government of Saskatchewan
with the province's AA credit rating. really
not only allows Indigenous communities to access
capital, but really a much more competitively
priced and, you know, competitive capital that
helps more money go back to the community for
them to utilize, you know, in their priorities.
We have the Honourable Greg Rickford talk about
Ontario's Ring of Fire and how it is emerging
as Canada's new critical minerals frontier. Ontario
has a massive profile in base metals and critical
minerals. The Ring of Fire in particular is an
exquisite quantitatively and qualitatively deposit,
plural, of the lion's share of what we categorically
refer to as critical minerals. But you also have
to have some baseline capacity. When you talk
about the ring of fire and Ontario has that in
spades, we have obviously the Sudbury Basin,
which is a world class and caliber nickel deposits,
amongst other things. We have other critical
mineral deposits in other parts of northern Ontario,
particularly in northwestern Ontario, with lithium
coming on board. But the Ring of Fire is located
some 400 to 500 kilometers north of the last
highway, if you will. Think of it as a corridor
from Toronto to Montreal, but through one of
the James Bay lowlands, a world -renowned carbon
sink. Frankly, as somebody who has lived there
for extended periods of time, obviously not my
life, but working up north in many of the communities
proximal to the Ring of Fire as a nurse, I have
a deep appreciation for the land and the relationship
that Indigenous peoples have with it. And so
we want to be very careful in its development.
We've taken a decidedly different approach than
previous governments and really invested in First
Nations leadership, especially when it comes
to the environmental assessments. They're nearly
completed. And the corridor to prosperity, as
I had named it a number of years ago, I think
we're hopeful that we can start that fairly soon.
In some respects, we already have because we're
developing. what we call the Greenstone area.
It's a large municipality that sits at the base
just off the Trans -Canada, ultimately form a
major corridor that has to be a couple of kilometers
wide. We're going to talk about major machinery
to build something like that. It's interesting
because the mine sites themselves are relatively
small in scale. to the infrastructure itself.
But I would just close on that preliminary question
mark by saying that, you know, this particular
region where the Ring of Fire is located is very
remote. And the five or six communities that
are closest to it are the last five or six communities
in the province that are still on diesel generation
for electricity. Hard to believe. Yes. But we
want to ensure that the communities are key partners,
obviously, but also benefit from development
in the region. Yes. And road access, I think,
is, for a number of reasons, is not just about
reaching prospective, no pun intended, mining
sites, but also to connect communities. to those
resource development projects and for the benefit
of better health, social, economic capacity and
infrastructure moving forward. Chief Ted Williams
of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation recounts
the pivotal moment winning the Casino Rama bid
and describing the leadership strategy and community
effort that transformed their economy. Rama,
over the years, when I first was on council,
we had a population of 400 people and our unemployment
was 85, 90%. Those individuals who are working
worked in the foundry industry in Orillia. Orillia
was a foundry town. During the summer and the
winter, there was a lot of hunting and fishing.
So during the course of my leadership, I was
very much involved in thinking about economic
development, looking at enterprises to generate
money and provide for the needs of the community.
We started this industrial plaza where we employed
a number of members from the community. three
or four different industries in the community
back in 1982, 83, up until 94, 95 when we started
to develop the casino. We actually relocated
those industries into Orillia. So we were contributing
to Orillia's economic prosperity at that time.
And so over the course of time, we took the bid
and proposed to the First Nations and the provincial
government to have a casino in Rama. I co -wrote
the proposal. I managed all of the media, community
meetings in Orillia and Aria and in my community.
And I visited over 100 casinos down in the States,
right across. the US of A and came back and provided
the information to my community first and then
the surrounding area next and gathered support
from the local municipal businesses and politicians
and that formed part of our proposal. Long story
short, we were shortlisted twice, and then we
actually won the bid on the 5th of December 1994,
and our world changed forever after that day.
Subsequently, after winning the bid, we needed
to implement the development of Casino Rama.
And because I played a large role in securing
the winning bid, my counsel at the time, I said,
well, we need somebody to make it happen. And
so they tapped me on the shoulder and said, you've
been a big part of this, so make it happen. I
hired 10 people who worked with me very closely
to develop the plan, working with the provincial
government to make Casino Rama happen. There
was a bit of a hiccup there back in February
of 96, in around this time. And but we worked
and negotiated with the provincial government
during that time to re -kick and restart the
project. And we subsequently opened Casinorama
on January 31st, 1996. I started as a vice president.
I moved from after I developed the casino, my
job was over and I moved into a role with the
casino. And I took on the role of... I'm Vice
President of Corporate Affairs. And I don't mind
telling you that the first five years we did,
the first year we did $590 million. We generated
3 ,400 jobs. The initial projections for Casino
Ramo was that we would do 200 million and generate
1 ,000 jobs. Today we're doing 200 million and
we've got 1 ,000 jobs. So basically I've said
to people that, For about 26 years, we rode the
gravy train. And now we're at a level where we
anticipated we would be 29, 30 years ago. Up
next is Mark Silvestre on Indigenous investment
and how Indigenous communities integrate cultural
values into investment policies. Yeah, I mean,
it happens and those discussions are really becoming
pretty prevalent today with newer settlements
in Canada. The pressure on the elected leadership
to do a per capita distribution. Sometimes a
lot of these settlements are all distributed
amongst the current band members. I really think
there's a lot more discussion that needs to happen
in terms of what you really want to do with these
funds because everybody kind of has that. need
within them to say, well, you know, I want my
portion of it. You know, Miss Saugus, the credit
did settle a second land claim in 2011 for the
greater Toronto area. And they distributed quite
a bit out of it at that point. And then they
went completely the other way. Instead of a community
board of trustees, they hired a corporate trustee
who really just. invests the money themselves
and then distributes all the revenue at the end
of the year to the council who then have some
parameters around how they would invest that
but that really put a lot of pressure on the
community and they actually wanted to have a
discussion about what they were going to do with
our little trust and you know we were really
proud of it we we've grown that 13 million trust
to almost $29 million today. We funded $9 million
worth of community projects. And the one really
important thing that we did, so through the work
of the National Library of Trust Officers Association,
we connected with a group called SHARE. which
is the Shareholder Association for Research and
Education. And they are an advocacy group for
pension funds and foundations and high net worth
individuals. And they were really interested
in connecting with us to bring in the Indigenous
component because what we were really realizing
was that, you know, we're investing and bringing
with, you know, hiring quality investment managers.
But unless we tell them who we are, we're investing
with their values. And their values are essentially
make as much money as possible with the wide
universe of investments that are out there. So
we could potentially be investing in companies
that are doing great harm to our communities,
both environmentally and culturally and rights
-wise. So in the connection with Cher, I'll never
forget Peter Chapman, who was the executive director
at the time, says, you can have that values conversation
with your managers because they're already doing
it for their other clients. And I said. How do
you mean? He says, you don't don't tell me that
they're telling their religious clients and faith
based pension funds to invest in defense industry
or alcohol or anything like that. That's completely
contrary to their values. So you can have that
conversation with them. And I thought that was
great. That's really what I needed to know. And
around 2016, when the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission report came out in Canada on the residential
schools and the impact on Indigenous communities.
You know, a lot of Canadians were, you know,
OK, well, what does that really mean? And we
were, you know, had the foresight to say, well,
let's create this organization. And we've called
it the Reconciliation and Responsible Investment
Initiative, a partnership between SHARE and NATOA.
And for Indigenous investors, it was helping
them. understand the link between their culture
traditional values the values that have managed
them there in their communities and managing
their wealth managing their traditions and their
investment policy because we really saw that
that there was a link and we had to go and you
know and it was really a discussion about you
know talk amongst yourselves your elders your
community what are the values that that run your
community and manage your community. Now let's
incorporate them into your investment policy
that, so that we can share with the investment
manager to show that, you know, what goes into
the portfolio is really important. How, what's
the impact of, of the companies we had. Chief
Derek App explains how the First Nations Finance
Authority is expanding access to global capital.
Yeah, the FNFA, I've been fortunate enough to
be a part of the FNFA for, oh, five, six years
now. And was the deputy chair for the last couple
of years. And now in February, I'll be stepping
into the chair role as well at the First Nations
Finance Authority. And that work really excites
me. I think a lot of the... The capacity and
the ability to support First Nations growth,
as well as First Nations economic growth, is
coming through the First Nations Finance Authority.
You know, we've surpassed over $2 billion in
loans out to First Nations. And now we just did
a $650 million debenture about a month ago. And
we know that with the investment climate in the
direction it's going, we will be looking at doing
debentures of that stature more regularly. We
have been accessing the global markets, but we
will be needing to continue to expand that Rolodex
of our investors globally to meet our demand.
We know the excess amount of resource projects
and renewable energy projects that will have
to be done in Canada in the short future. And
with the political will that we will have federally
and provincially, I think the opportunity is
absolutely there. And part of the FNFA, the First
Nations Financial Management Board and these
institutions where I do work nationally is all
about building that capacity for the First Nations,
building the internal controls. accessing the
capital at a competitive rate and being able
to really capitalize and be involved in these
opportunities that are going to be coming. Because
it's not just drinking from a fire hose anymore,
it's drinking from the actual fire hydrant. And
that's what we're seeing right now. And really,
we need the capital to be able to keep up with
the pace and the demand and being able to meet
the economic growth needs of not only First Nations,
but Canada. Next up, we have Sean Willey, CEO
of Desnetti Group, who explains how Indigenous
-led businesses can drive sustainable economic
growth. Well, I wanted to give back. I had felt
this entrepreneurialism in me and I had a vision
and an idea about how to, you know, JP Gladue
was head of CCAB at the time. I was one of his
co -chairs. So I saw this trajectory that Indigenous
business was on. I saw the court cases, but...
I'm also a pragmatic individual. And I said,
okay, we have all these court cases. I have a
very progressive first nation who's humble that
wants to diversify and grow. How can we create
a tier one business that happens to be indigenous?
And I just saw, I saw this opportunity there.
And if we didn't adjust things a bit and. I'm
thankful for all our leaders. Like every once
in a while, I'll have a, I'll watch a couple
of those videos of, you know, constitutional
talks. When you get, when you get some of those,
those like Jim Sinclair and Mary Simon, like
at the end, they're pounding the table and I'm
appreciative of those individuals that set the
table for our generation. Now we just have to
sort of take it up a notch. Right. And so we
wanted to create a business and. So English River,
you know, use your rights and title to get that
core business. So, you know, I've been CEO at
Desnetsi now for eight years. Majority of that
time has been in a market downturn. And so what
we did was we went out and I've done a lot of
work for Corporate Canada. I know a lot of Canadian
CEOs. They want to do business with Indigenous
companies, but they're very honest saying you
have to match what our value proposition is at
our company, right? And so we've done a good
job at Desnet, a great job at Desnet, at going
out and finding companies to do mergers and acquisitions
with, really indigenizing those companies, taking
a 51 to 75 % stake in those companies, taking
advantage of the procurement opportunities in
front of us. A very good compliment that we get
from Corporate Canada is that we're very strategically
focused. We think about strategy over politics.
We're not asking for a handout. We're asking
for a hand up. But we're also trying to add value
to everybody we're talking to. Tiffany Eckert
-Marais and Les Wilson on how Indigenous partnerships
became instrumental to Yukon's economic development.
It's still pretty harrowing how there is a lot
of racism still. We, Yukon government, recently
brought in the Yukon First Nation procurement
policy. And so what that means is that they've
amended their law that it has to, it encourages
Yukon First Nation businesses to participate
in the economy. And our premier has always been
really forward thinking in Yukon First Nations.
And so I really am thankful for Premier Pillai.
So they amended the act to include, to encourage
UConn First Nation businesses with this procurement
policy. And when we were going through that about
five years ago, the creation of the policy, the
amount of businesses that were just terrible
things they were saying, it's still, even though
we're so far beyond that, we're living in an
age of reconciliation, there's still a lot of
fear in there. And so as we've lived the procurement
policy now for a few years, it's changed the
conversation from... There's a company called
Castle Rock and White Horse, and it's owned by
First Nation and Champaign -Ajac, Dakota Capital
Investments. And the companies were actually
saying the Dakota effect is what they were calling
the procurement policy, and they were afraid
that Dakota was going to control every bid that
government put out. But it hasn't done that.
So a lot of fear -mongering was happening by
businesses, like non -Indigenous businesses in
the Yukon. But now living in the policy, it's
changed that. And there isn't the Dakota effect
as much out there anymore. It's now working together.
And I think Qualen Dunn and Les has worked with
his development corporation that he worked for.
They've done a lot of really wonderful things
with partnerships and showed how they've been
able to progress so far. Our First Nations, I
think your First Nations signed their final agreement
in 19, in 2000. 2005. 2005. We signed ours in
2002. But what Les' First Nation has been able
to do with people like Les working there, they've
been able to advance their First Nation tremendously.
And I'm super envious of all the work that Les
has done with his development corporation because
they've really embraced the spirit and intent
of the procurement policy and been able to do
remarkable things. Great. Les, do you want to
speak a little bit about that? Well, I'd like
to think that some of the stuff that Kuala Lumpur
has been doing and some of the progressive projects
that the First Nation has, and of course its
corporation, all stems from that very powerful
document that's sitting right in front of Tiffany
there. It's an amazing document to gather today
for our children tomorrow. That really speaks
to me, essentially. That was Valentine's Day,
1973. I was three years old, right? And the children
that they're talking about is me, specifically,
right? I am now... I would say, I suspect a leader
in the First Nation. But some of the projects
that we've managed to be able to accomplish was
really trying to unlock the economic potential
of Kwanli Dun lands and essentially settlement
land throughout the Yukon Territory. Typically
in Western Canada, and I think all over Canada,
because it's Indian land or Indian dirt, it's
typically a discount. It's essentially, it's
not at market price. That was some of the big...
uphill hurdles that we've been really trying
to embrace and trying to encourage the general
public that there's no difference. This dirt
is just the same as the other dirt. First Nation
land in itself with respect to Feast Simple land.
It's just the same. Now, I suppose a good proxy
is our gravel pit. We had a couple of gravel
pits. While some of the other First Nations were
arguing and negotiating for precious gems and
gold, our First Nation was actually looking for
gravel pits from the north and south of town.
We knew even back then. long before we ratified
the agreement during the negotiations, that if
development was going to happen in the capital,
that we were going to need dirt in order to do
that. So that's what we're up to right now. That
particular lease, two and five, in the center
of Whitehorse has actually turned into a gold
mine. And it's the lifeblood of our First Nation
corporation to allow them to go ahead and do
some of the projects that we've actually been
very successful. And again, it's really unlocking
the economic potential of Kwanlin and Lance.
Harold Callas shares how First Nations have transformed
their economic participation through the First
Nations Fiscal Management Act. I did everything
at the Squamish Nation except social services,
I think. I started out as CFO and moved into
treaty negotiations and to, I think, looking
at opportunities. It became very apparent that
we could not achieve success until we were able
to move out of some sections of the Indian Act.
And that began a process of 20 years and four
different pieces of legislation that allows First
Nations on an optional basis to opt into alternatives
to the Indian Act, mainly in the areas of lands
and resources and economic development. And that's
what I was sent away by my Squamish council at
the time that I was there to help create. The
main one, of course, that we're talking about
today is the First Nations Fiscal Management
Act that helped create the First Nations Financial
Management Board, the First Nations Finance Authority
and the First Nation Tax Commission. And these
were areas that Squamish, as well as a number
of other First Nations in the country, felt we
needed to have some changes in the relationship
with Canada around so that we could better. engage
in economic development on our own terms. The
Financial Management Board built administrative
and financial capacity in First Nation communities
that they might not otherwise have. The First
Nation Tax Commission supports First Nation and
the exercise of fiscal powers that were gained
through the legislation. And the First Nation
Finance Authority emulates the BC Municipal Finance
Authority in a pool borrowing environment. that
allows for First Nations anywhere in Canada to
access dementia financing to the financial authority
on rates and terms similar to the province of
Ontario. It's a real achievement. We now have,
of the 579 Indian Act bans, we have over 380
who have opted into this legislation. They are
collecting over $100 million a year now in revenues.
And the finance authority on request from First
Nations have accessed $3 billion in excess of
$3 billion in debt financing for them to meet
their needs. So it's been a journey as we move
towards gaining recognition of our inherent right
to self -government in many different ways. But
we very quickly realized that we needed to be
able to demonstrate accountability and transparency.
We need to build. capacity in First Nation communities,
many of whom would only be familiar with the
responsibilities related to monitoring the contribution
agreements that they would receive from the federal
government to deliver programs and services.
Obviously, things have moved much beyond that
now, moved into the mainstream of the economy,
and we now need to be in a position where we
can bridge almost 200 years of exclusion by bringing
awareness and capacity to First Nations so they
can sit across the table as legitimate and equal
partners with those they want to deal with. And
finally, we have Jamie Lickers of CIBC talking
about building lasting economic strength through
Indigenous investment partnerships. I would say
that the title of the team that I lead at the
bank is quite intentional. It's not Indigenous
relations and it's not Indigenous banking. And
of course, many of our counterparts in the financial
industry will have teams and leaders of things
called Indigenous banking or Indigenous relations.
My position as the leader of our Indigenous markets
team at CIBC really reflects the primary lines
of business that we operate in, which currently
include commercial banking and trust management.
So I lead a team of professionals across the
country who are dedicated to serving the needs
of our Indigenous clients in those two spaces.
So our commercial banking team services, for
the most part, Indigenous governments as public
entities. So Indian Act bans, self -governing
nations, Métis settlement councils, Inuit governments.
as the public sector entities. And then, of course,
we support their related entities. So as you
know, many of them will have economic development
corporations. They may run their own health and
education authorities. And so we would service
those public sector entities as opposed to serving
private clients or privately owned Indigenous
business. That's outside of the work that my
team does at CIBC. And then on the other side
of the business, I oversee a team of trust experts
that sit under our CIBC Trust Company, but service
only the needs and the assets of our Indigenous
trust clients. And I'm very proud to say that,
to our knowledge, we now have the largest book
of Indigenous trust assets under administration
at CIBC, totaling... somewhere between 27 and
28 billion. It changes every day. New files come
in every day. Can you explain a bit for our audience
about the Indigenous Trust business and what's
involved in that? Definitely. Trusts are my passion.
It's where I focused my legal practice towards
the end of my legal career and a big part of
the reason that I came over to CIBC. So I can
talk about Indigenous trust in my sleep. I can
talk about the taxation of Indigenous trust in
my sleep, whether that's good or bad. Again,
I'm still recovering from being a lawyer. But
an absolutely growing and booming business, I
bet. The number of settlements and the need for
expertise to manage settlement funds. As you
said, new files every day, I bet. It is. It's
growing so quickly that we admittedly have a
difficult time keeping up with the growth of
our team and our human capital to service the
demand for the services in the market. The number
of claims that are being settled is just absolutely
exploding. And those claims include individual
claims, Rob, as you would know, at the specific
claims tribunal where one particular nation might
be advancing a claim related to a breach of a
treaty promise or the failure to deliver on some
commitment from the Crown, and they would settle.
that claim on behalf of their nation alone. And
those claims can easily be in the hundreds of
millions of dollars. But now we're also seeing
two additional avenues of large -scale settlements.
One is the collective advancement of treaty -based
claims on behalf of the group of nations that
are all signatories to a particular treaty. So
that's the best of Drumbeat's 2025. 10 conversations
that showed where Canadian Indigenous investment
is going. The institutions are built, the capital
is flowing, and the partnerships are happening
at scale. Looking ahead to 2026, the major projects
pipeline is massive. Over $116 billion worth
of projects already referred to the major projects
office. And now each one of those requires meaningful
Indigenous partnership. From LNG expansion, nuclear
projects, critical minerals, Canada is positioning
itself as a stable supply chain alternative.
And the Canadian Indigenous Investment Summit
returns to London in April. For institutional
investors, project developers and advisors listening,
this is the year to get serious about how Indigenous
partnership actually works in Canada. The infrastructure
is operational. The opportunities are real. What
I'm looking forward to, Mark, is seeing these
partnerships move from announcements to actual
construction and operations. The frameworks are
in place, and now it's about execution. Thank
you to our listeners and viewers for being part
of this journey, and I'm so excited to be back
with you, Rob, with new episodes throughout the
year. Likewise, Mark. I can't wait. It's going
to be an exciting year. Happy New Year, everyone.
Here's to 2026. Here's to 2026.