Every few years, Canada repeats the same promise that First Nations and Métis people are finally being included in this country’s economic future. The latest example is the announcement from Mark Carney and Danielle Smith about a new pipeline to Asian markets that claims Indigenous Nations will be co owners. At first glance, it looks like progress. It sounds like reconciliation. It feels like everyone is finally at the same table.

But that is the hook. It is designed to make Canadians believe Indigenous peoples are partners in resource development, when the truth is that the foundations of ownership are never addressed. The land is not discussed. The mines and minerals are not discussed. The revenues taken from Indigenous territories are not discussed. There is no acknowledgment that these resources come from Indigenous lands and that they belong to Indigenous Nations.

Canada offers the appearance of partnership without respecting Indigenous sovereignty.

When governments talk about co-ownership, they ignore the historic truth that First Nations were dispossessed through deliberate policy. While our families were fighting to get their children back from residential schools, legally banned from hiring lawyers, the federal government passed the Natural Resources Transfer Acts. They handed control of our lands, waters, mines, and minerals to the provinces without any consultation with Indigenous peoples. This is the foundation of every modern project that exists today.

I have seen this play out at negotiation tables in Alberta. When pipeline routes were being pushed through our territories, what was offered to our Nations were impact benefit agreements. Help with a power bill. Help with a recreation center. Nothing that reflected the real value of our land. Nothing to do with ownership or long term control. When I raised the issue of ownership, because ownership is the heart of the issue, the answer was no. We were told that ownership of our pipelines and royalties would never happen.

Later, they returned with a new offer. They said that all First Nations along the corridor could share a one per cent ownership stake. Not one per cent each. One per cent split between every Nation whose land would be crossed and affected. It was a token gesture, not a recognition of our rights. It was meant to quiet us without changing the system that continues to treat Indigenous Nations as afterthoughts.

So when Canadians hear leaders speak about Indigenous co ownership today, they need to understand what is really being offered. Co-ownership of the pipe is not the same as ownership of the land. Co-ownership of the pipe is not the same as ownership of the mines and the minerals. 

Co-ownership is not sovereignty. It is not consent. It is a small piece of metal that carries a resource that does not belong to the province or the federal government.

Canada cannot keep taking from Indigenous lands and calling it a national benefit.

True benefit requires true consent. True partnership requires Indigenous Nations owning what has always been ours. The land. The mines. The minerals. The revenues. One hundred per cent Indigenous. Anything less is another colonial arrangement presented as progress.

If Canada wants a future based on respect and real Treaty partnership, the truth must be faced. Nothing involving Indigenous territories is legitimate without us, and no economic future is just when Indigenous people are excluded.

Marcel C. Desjarlais (Osawaw Kihew) is a Nehiyaw and Metis writer, entrepreneur, and community advocate from northern Alberta. He is the creator of the “AJ and Asiniy Adventure Series,” children’s books inspired by his grandsons and rooted in the humour, strength, and everyday life of Indigenous families on the Prairies.