Building Indigenous investment

Expanding the AIOC’s mandate will further contribute to Alberta’s post-pandemic economy by creating jobs, fueling growth and diversifying the economy.

“Alberta’s government is committed to making life better for Indigenous communities by working together to boost economic opportunities. Expanding the AIOC’s mandate ensures Indigenous communities can be true partners in prosperity. This will help create jobs now and into the future, while helping diversify the economy and advancing reconciliation.”

“The AIOC has done a tremendous job in creating economic opportunities in Indigenous communities to ensure future prosperity for generations to come. This is an important step in reconciliation and will help communities grow and prosper.” 

“For far too long, Indigenous Communities have been unable to develop their commercial opportunities because of outside barriers and lack of access to equity and debt capital.  In the past, even with equity secured, we faced challenges securing debt in a timely manner and on market terms.  These restrictions severely limited our community’s ability to build commercial enterprises that will enable us to achieve our vision of financial sovereignty.  I am pleased to see AIOC’s mandate expanded and am hopeful that the AIOC  will enable the Kainai/Blood Tribe and other Indigenous communities to access debt more easily for future projects.” 

AIOC was created to enable access to capital, making financing more affordable and improving lending terms for Indigenous groups interested in participating in major projects in Alberta. The AIOC provides up to $1 billion in loan guarantees to reduce the cost of capital for Indigenous groups and support their own communities in raising capital to invest in economic development projects.

“At AIOC, our over-arching goal is to create a more equitable economy for all, and this expansion of our mandate broadens the opportunities available to our Indigenous community partners to better accomplish economic prosperity for their communities. By expanding opportunities beyond the natural resource sector, we are now able to consider a myriad of additional proposals. The expanded mandate further reinforces the stability and strength of the organization and commitment we have to supporting the health and well-being of our communities through directly contributing to Alberta’s economy”

“Expanding the mandate of the AIOC to include agriculture projects is an important step towards creating more economic opportunities in Indigenous communities. The ongoing research and innovation that we are seeing in Alberta agriculture will ensure this growing sector of our economy will continue providing jobs and investment well into the future.”

Natural resource projects will remain the key driver at the AIOC as funding eligibility expands to additional sectors.

Quick facts

• To date, the AIOC has backstopped $160 million in loan guarantees to support Indigenous investment in three major natural resource projects:
  • $93 million to a group of six First Nations for the Cascade Power Project
  • $40 million to eight Indigenous communities in the Wood Buffalo region to finance the Northern Courier Pipeline System
  • $27 million to Frog Lake First Nation to invest in Strathcona Resources’ Lindbergh Cogeneration facility.
• Alberta is home to the most Indigenous agricultural operators in all of Canada.
• 80 per cent of Indigenous households in Alberta, and 67 per cent of rural households, do not have access to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications’ (CRTC) target speeds for internet.
• Earlier this year, the AIOC announced capacity grant funding for the Ermineskin Cree Nation (ECN) for their Neyaskweyahk Energy Project, a proposed solar power generation facility to be built on ECN’s reserve land.