If Mark Carney’s government is serious about ‘Build Canada,’ it has to deal with this reality first - Toronto Star
First Nations must be equal partners in the new fervour for building, write Frances Abele and Lloyd Axworthy.
Canada’s new emphasis on building must include First Nations, write Frances Abele and Lloyd Axworthy. Above, Nathan Phillips Square hosts the Indigenous Legacy Gathering on September 28, 2026.
Frances Abele is the co-director of the Rebuilding First Nations Governance Project. Lloyd Axworthy is a former longtime MP who served as Canadian foreign minister from 1996 to 2000.
Ottawa has a new vocabulary. We are building Canada: major projects in the national interest, a Major Projects Office, a Build Communities Strong Fund. The ambition is welcome. But a nation-building strategy that pours concrete while leaving First Nations sidelined or rushed into consent is building on a faulty foundation.
Since 1995, the Government of Canada has recognized that the inherent right of self-government is an existing Aboriginal right under section 35 of the Constitution. It is not a favour. Yet three decades later, most First Nations still govern under a nineteenth-century statute that makes the federal minister, not their own citizens, the final word on much of their public life. Subsequent jurisprudence has recognized First Nations’ right to consultation and accommodation concerning development on their lands, and their Aboriginal title. If the Build Canada agenda is serious, recognizing and implementing these rights should sit at its centre
The government has already accepted part of this logic. It doubled the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program from $5 billion to $10 billion so that First Nations can become owners, not bystanders. It created an Indigenous Advisory Council for the Major Projects Office.
Those are real steps. But there is a contradiction. First Nations may now be equity partners in pipelines, ports, mines, rail lines and transmission lines worth billions. At the same time, many of those same First Nations governments still need Ottawa’s sign-off under the Indian Act for bylaws, land use and elections. Their financial affairs and budgets can remain subject to close oversight by federal public servants.
That contradiction is also a practical problem. When the Building Canada Act was introduced, First Nations leaders raised concerns about its effect on section 35 rights, on the recognition of First Nation governments and on treaty obligations. The chiefs of British Columbia warned that fast-tracking projects in the national interest could override First Nations’ jurisdiction. Without clear, recognized First Nations governments involvement every major project risks becoming a legal fight over who speaks for whom and with what authority.
Investors call this certainty. First Nations call it respect. It is the same thing.
Self-government cannot simply be declared from Ottawa. It has to be rebuilt in communities: citizens agreeing on who they are, writing their own constitutions, designing accountable institutions, and finding the resources to run them. This is the painstaking work of community and political development that has been undertaken by First Nations themselves. For example, for over twenty years, the Centre for First Nations Governance has delivered nation-rebuilding workshops with citizens, youth, Elders and leaders. Its framework rests on five pillars: the People, the Land, Laws and Jurisdiction, Governing Systems, and Resources. These are the framework for nation-building.
At the same time, the formal federal process has improved. Canada sits at more than 170 negotiation and discussion tables, and jointly develop fiscal policy. But, that system largely serves Nations that have already reached the table. The groundwork that gets a community there is still treated as optional and most federal transfers to First Nation governments are still inadequate to make up for decades of underfunding, and tightly controlled, making long term planning impossible.
There are four ways to make self-government part of Build Canada.
First, make implementation of the inherent right of self-government an explicit pillar of the Build Canada strategy, with a lead minister, targets and public reporting.
Second, provide stable, multi-year funding for independent, First Nations-led governance support. That covers constitution-building, citizenship codes, and financial and administrative systems, whether or not a Nation is at a formal negotiating table.
Third, work with First Nation organizations to design realistic exits from the Indian Act for those nations who chose this course. It would entail a clear, faster path to recognized jurisdiction over its lands, membership, governance and services. The path should build on existing laws and the Recognition of Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination.
Fourth, build First Nations into the machinery of government. Recognized First Nations governments should take part as governments in federal decision-making: on major projects, fiscal arrangements and regional development. They should not be consulted as stakeholders after the decisions are made. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act already commits Canada to this direction.
Countries are not built only with steel and concrete. They are built with institutions that people trust and own. If this is truly a moment of nation-building, it must include the Nations that were here first and that the Constitution already recognizes.
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Frances Abele is the co-director of the Rebuilding First Nations Governance Project. Lloyd Axworthy is a former longtime MP who served as Canadian foreign minister from 1996 to 2000.
Opinion articles are based on the author’s interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details
