Details of Henvey Inlet wind project provided at Indigenous projects forum in Toronto
By Sam Laskaris
TORONTO – Small but mighty.
That’s how Jennifer Ashawasegai-Pereira thinks of her home community, Henvey Inlet First Nation, located within the Parry Sound District.
Ashawasegai-Pereira, who worked as a communications consultant for her First Nation, attended a Toronto event dubbed the Indigenous Led Projects Forum to discuss one of Henvey Inlet’s most noteworthy initiatives.
She was a panellist at the forum for a session titled The Renewable Energy Journey. The two-day forum, which concluded Apr. 3, was staged at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel.
Ashawasegai-Pereira spoke about Henvey Inlet Wind, which is the largest First Nation wind energy partnership in Canada.
Henvey Inlet Wind is a community developed 300-megawatt wind project, along with a 110-kilometre transmission line from the First Nation to Parry Sound. The project was completed in 2019.
Ashawasegai-Pereira, who now works as the Indigenous Engagement and Traditional Knowledge Specialist for AtkinsRéalis, said Henvey Inlet Wind was spawned from the 2009 Green Energy Act, which was introduced in the Ontario legislature.
“And that’s when we had developers knocking on our door because some of our land is along beautiful, wind-swept Georgian Bay,” she said. “So, you can imagine there is a lot of wind and there is that potential… Since we had developers knocking on our door, we thought this might be a really good idea. So, we talked amongst ourselves, thought it would be a good idea, and then we did our due diligence. Part of our due diligence was also wanting to have a good partnership. One of the things we wanted was a 50-50 partnership. We weren’t going to settle for less.”
Ashawasegai-Pereira said reps from her First Nation talked to some developers early on but couldn’t come to an agreement. Pattern Energy then came into the picture and ended up forging a partnership with Henvey Inlet First Nation to develop the project.
“One of the things that Pattern did, we hear about these things all the time, is engage early and engage often,” Ashawasegai-Pereira said. “And they did that.”
Ashawasegai-Pereira said the total membership of her First Nation is just under 1,000, and less than 200 members live in the community.
“That’s small,” she said. “So, I always feel like we’re that children’s book, The Little Engine That Could. We were going up this great big hill, going through all those consultations with the First Nations Lands Management Act and developing our land code and getting into the wind industry. So, it was kind of an uphill thing – I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. And then finally, we’re down on the other side. I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could. That’s where we’re at.”
Meanwhile, former Fort William First Nation Chief Peter Collins, who also served as the Anishinabek Nation’s Regional Grand Chief, spoke on a panel at the forum titled Indigenous Led Corridors.
Collins has, since 2022, been working as the CEO of Chi Mino Ozhitoowin, a limited partnership of seven First Nations to collectively benefit from the Waasignan Transmission Line Project.
Meanwhile, Karen Restoule, a member of Dokis First Nation, moderated a session at the forum titled Indigenous Ownership.
A panellist for this session was Darrell Beaulieu, the president/CEO of Denendeh Investments Incorporated, a corporation representing the 27 First Nations in the Northwest Territories. When it comes to proceeding with projects, Beaulieu said to move forward at the speed of trust.
“One of the parts that I find interesting is move at the speed of trust but also we don’t have the capacity in-house to move as quickly as you want to move,” Restoule said. “And I think it’s a constant kind of push and pull.”