Long denied financing, Indigenous-owned investment dealers are flipping the script

The Haisla First Nation's Kitimaat Village is seen in an aerial view along the Douglas Channel near Kitimat, B.C., on January 10, 2012. Cedar Leaf participated in a $350 million bond issuance in June that will contribute to financing Haisla First Nation and their majority equity ownership in Cedar LNG.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Getting a business loan is both a foundation of economic growth and something Indigenous people have long faced barriers to access, but an emerging trend has First Nations flipping the script and becoming financiers themselves.

Ventures like Cedar Leaf Capital, which opened shop last October, and First Nations Financial Markets that launched earlier this month, are both majority-Indigenous owned firms working their way into the capital-raising system.

As investment dealers, they act as the go-between for companies and institutions trying to raise money and the investors who will ultimately buy the bonds or equity.

Beyond making a profit for their First Nation owners, the firms are also aiming to build Indigenous capacity in the financial world, and form part of a wider push to reduce the barriers that have stood in the way of economic reconciliation.

“Capital markets [have] been woefully under-representative of Indigenous people, businesses, and communities,” said Clint Davis, an Inuk from Labrador who is CEO of Cedar Leaf.

The rise of such organizations can help shift the trend through direct hiring, as with the all-Indigenous three-person bond trading team at Cedar Leaf, as well as by helping finance major Indigenous projects.

Among the 54 bond issuances, worth more than $41 billion, that Cedar Leaf has already participated in was a deal raising some of the $715 million that 36 First Nations in British Columbia needed to buy a 12.5 per cent stake in Enbridge’s Westcoast natural gas pipeline in May.

The deal was also the first to use the Indigenous loan guarantee program, which aims to provide lower interest rates on Indigenous loans through federal government backing.

The program forms part of the growing ecosystem of Indigenous finance that also includes the First Nations Finance Authority, established almost 20 years ago to help member nations secure lower interest rates by pooling resources.

Cedar Leaf became part of the group that sells the authority’s bonds to investors when it got in on the group’s first 30-year bond in June, raising $350 million to help Haisla First Nation finance their majority equity ownership in Cedar LNG.

The deals, and Cedar Leaf’s participation, shows a shift in how Indigenous groups are raising money.

“Cedar Leaf Capital is not only filling a long-overdue gap in our financial system — it is reshaping it,” said Scott Thomson, CEO of Scotiabank, in a statement.

The bank led the launch of Cedar Leaf with partners Nch’kay Development, Des Nedhe Group, and Chippewas of Rama First Nation, with the intention that the firm will be become wholly Indigenous-owned, controlled and operated in the future.

As the federal government focuses on major resource projects, financiers like Cedar Leaf can make sure Indigenous groups are fully empowered to lead and benefit from the opportunities, said Thomson.

The emergence of the firms and other programs are coalescing to create real momentum on economic participation, said Davis.

“A lot of things are starting to converge here, where there’s great opportunity for communities to participate in these medium- and large-scale projects.”

The rollout of the federal government’s major projects initiative, which includes dozens of potential contenders for Indigenous participation, shows just how many opportunities are in the works, and how much funding will be needed, said Mark Podlasly, CEO of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition.

“We need other places to go and other ways to get access ... so anything that allows nations alternative ways to get to cheaper capital is going to be appreciated,” he said.

He noted these deals are Indigenous groups using their own capital — they’re not looking for grants, but said there are still limitations they’re working against in trying to put it all together.

“It’s going to take creativity, not just from the capital markets, but from Indigenous people as well, to think how do we co-function together to get to the ultimate objective, which is empowerment, economic empowerment,” Podlasly said.

Beyond directly helping fund resource projects, the rise of Indigenous-owned investment dealers also provides a new avenue for companies and organizations in the wider economy to participate in economic reconciliation, said Robert Van Belle, chief executive of First Nations Financial Markets.

“There’s going to be a natural inclusion of our dealer in syndicates where the issuers are seeking acts of reconciliation with First Nations.”

He sees the potential for such inclusion from companies such as in the insurance sector or large institutions like pension funds, which don’t have the direct relations that many resource companies look to engage.

The strategy has been in operation in the U.S. for some time now, where big companies have reserved a segment of their bond raising for dealers owned by specific groups, whether that’s minorities, women or veterans, with similar aims of economic inclusion.

First Nations Financial Markets was created when six Alberta First Nations bought a majority interest in Agentis Capital Markets, an investment dealer that Van Belle led.

He said conversations were already underway with the First Nations when Cedar Leaf was announced, but the trend shows momentum in the space.

The firm, now majority owned by the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Cold Lake First Nation, Fort McMurray 468 First Nation, Heart Lake First Nation, Sawridge First Nation, and Whitefish Lake #128 First Nation, also intends to directly hire Indigenous staff, but is still working through that process, said Van Belle.

Chief Isaac Twinn of Sawridge First Nation said in a statement that the firm is a game-changer for bringing First Nations to the capital markets table.

“For too long, decisions have been made around us rather than with us. FNFM is one step toward changing that — ensuring First Nations participation in capital markets through capacity building,” said Twinn.

“The real opportunity lies in scaling this model so that economic reconciliation translates into tangible, lasting prosperity for all our communities.”

It’s still early days for Cedar Leaf as well, with the near-term focus on securing more government and private partners and wrapping a first full year of operations, but it’s already feeling like a momentous shift, said Davis.

“This is quite a period of renaissance for the Indigenous community, and it’s going to be really exciting for the next 10 years. I’m just really happy and I feel honoured to be a part of it.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2025.

Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press