Clean energy can advance Indigenous reconciliation

Canada’s remote communities need reliable and affordable energy to operate their schools and businesses and heat their homes. But the current situation is woefully inadequate.

Of the 279 active remote communities not connected to the electric grid, 239 of them rely on diesel fuel for electricity and oil for heating, which must be flown, barged or trucked in. Nearly two thirds of these are Indigenous communities.

If the government of Canada removed the barriers and impediments to clean energy development in these rural and remote communities, it would signal a bold commitment to Indigenous peoples and action towards reconciliation.