Drumbeats - Canadian Indigenous Investment Podcast

Shannin Metatawabin, CEO of NACCA, on 55,000 Indigenous business loans at a 97% repayment rate and the fund that pays investors first. The National Aboriginal Capital Corporations Association is Canada's national body for more than 50 Indigenous financial institutions. Over 35 years, the network has made 55,000 loans to Indigenous entrepreneurs and small businesses, with a 97% repayment rate that Shannin notes outperforms the commercial banks. Annual lending has risen 60% since 2024. The Indigenous Growth Fund, NACCA's institutional vehicle, closed its first round at C$153M with the Government of Canada and three federal crown corporations as anchor investors. A second fundraise is now under way. What this episode covers:Fund mechanics and LP access: an evergreen structure where investors are paid first, with a Canadian LP as the established entry route for UK and European institutions.Network scale and credit quality: 55,000 loans, C$3.6bn deployed, 60% annual lending growth, and OECD recognition across 80 member states as a global best practice model.Canada's major project pipeline: a C$10bn government guarantee for Indigenous community equity ownership in major projects, with the NACCA lending network as the small business supplier base those projects depend on. Drumbeats is the podcast of the Canadian Indigenous Investment Forum. More at canadianindigenousinvestmentforum.org.

In this first part of our conversation, Nicole Bourque-Bouchier walks through a story that starts with checking her company's first year-end financials on her honeymoon. After the hardest working year of her life, she scrolled to the bottom line: minus $250,000.That was 2005. Bouchier just closed 2025 at $200 million.Nicole is CEO of Bouchier, one of Canada's largest privately-owned Indigenous companies in Alberta's oil sands. She's Mikisew Cree, raised on the trapline before her father took a Syncrude job and moved the family to Fort McMurray. She worked through Syncrude, ran her own consulting business, then joined Shell - where she met David, who had a small contracting operation on the side.In 2004, they both quit their corporate jobs and went all in. Nicole admits she "didn't know what a dozer or excavator was" when she started. Everything about running this business, she taught herself.In this episode, Nicole explains:$250,000 first-year loss to $200 million, what financial discipline actually looks likeFort McKay First Nation, Finning Canada, Alberta Treasury Branch extended payment terms - still partners decades later28-year relationships with CNRL, Suncor, Imperial Oil, how partnership economics drives client retentionSelf-taught CEO scaling three divisions with zero business training99 Indigenous communities, 39% Indigenous workforce, 41% Indigenous leadershipSeven Sacred Teachings in daily operations - values as performance framework$12 million community investment, zero-default performance record In December 2024, Nicole received the Order of Canada and ExxonMobil's International Diverse Supplier Award - validation that relationship-based Indigenous business models deliver sustained client retention and performance through cycles. ABOUT NICOLE BOURQUE-BOUCHIER: Nicole Bourque-Bouchier serves as CEO and Co-owner of Bouchier, one of Canada's largest Indigenous-owned companies with $200+ million annual revenues, 1,400 employees from nearly 100 First Nations, and major contracts with CNRL, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy. Recent recognition: December 2024 Member of the Order of Canada, December 2024 ExxonMobil International Diverse Supplier AwardCHAPTERS00:00 - Why Indigenous partnerships are central to Canadian natural resource and infrastructure investment00:12 - Building one of Canada’s largest Indigenous-owned companies in the oil sands00:51 - Global recognition: Order of Canada and ExxonMobil’s international supplier award02:49 - Understanding Canada’s oil sands geography for UK and European investors03:17 - Indigenous land stewardship, traditional economies, and modern resource development07:48 - Education, oil sands entry, and early engagement between industry and First Nations10:32 - From side business to full commitment: entrepreneurial risk in capital-intensive sectors12:21 - Winter roads, exploration logistics, and how oil sands projects are actually built14:25 - Long-term contracts, zero-default performance, and operational credibility17:03 - Scaling to $200M revenue with Indigenous leadership and workforce participation18:59 - First-year losses, capital discipline, and financial resilience21:04 - Governance lessons every entrepreneur and investor must learn early23:10 - Strategic partners, banks, and suppliers who enable Indigenous enterprise growth25:35 - Expansion beyond oil sands: facility maintenance, infrastructure, and national growth27:21 - Embedding Indigenous values into corporate culture and operational performance

OUTCOMES FINANCE | INDIGENOUS INVESTMENT | COMMUNITY CAPITAL This episode breaks down how Indigenous communities are accelerating infrastructure, financing clean energy, and reshaping the investment landscape through outcomes-based financing.Guest: Jeffrey Cyr, Founder & Managing Partner, Raven Indigenous Outcomes Funds.How do Indigenous Nations deploy housing, energy, and infrastructure faster while delivering investor returns and community impact? Jeffrey Cyr, Founder and Managing Partner of Raven Indigenous Outcomes Funds, breaks down how outcomes-based financing moves projects out of government bottlenecks, channels capital directly into communities, creates measurable public savings, and repays investors from those savings with verified returns. Jeffrey has spent 20+ years advancing self-determination from negotiating land rights to designing policy systems, leading the National Association of Friendship Centres, and launching the first globally Indigenous-led VC firm.In this episode, Jeffrey explains:How outcomes contracts pool federal and provincial programs into scalable capital pipelinesWhy blended finance unlocks projects that foundations, private equity, or governments can’t fund aloneHow Raven structures returns (4–7%) while keeping wealth inside communitiesHow geothermal and solar projects lower housing costs, cut emissions, and keep skilled jobs localWhy Canada has become a global leader in Indigenous economic developmentWhere the next wave of investable projects will emerge housing, clean energy, health, diabetes reduction, and workforce developmentYou’ll learn why outcomes financing is more than a funding model it’s a tool for redistributing power, capital, and decision-making back to Indigenous communities.Whether you’re an Indigenous leader, policy-maker, or investor exploring Canada, the UK, the U.S., or Europe, this episode reveals how First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities are moving from surviving to thriving and what opportunities exist for aligned capital.

This episode examines Indigenous investment in Canada, institutional capital, and Indigenous partnerships, as well as why Indigenous-led finance is now central to infrastructure, energy, and natural resource investment outcomes. Under Dawn Madahbee-Leach leadership a $150,000 First Nation–owned loan fund scaled to more than $170 million, supporting more than 4,000 projects across Canada. In this episode of Drumbeats, she joins Mark Magnacca and Rob Brant to examine what that growth reveals about Indigenous-led capital, governance, and long-term economic value creation. Recorded on the 10th anniversary of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this conversation offers a rare, inside perspective on the National Indigenous Economic Strategy for Canada a landmark framework authored by Indigenous leaders and 25 national organisations, outlining 107 calls to economic prosperity across four pathways: people, land, finance, and infrastructure. Dawn explains how corporations, institutional investors, and government agencies are already implementing elements of the strategy, reshaping procurement, equity participation, and significant project development in the energy, infrastructure, mining, and trade sectors. She also shares what senior decision-makers should watch for ahead of the 2027 progress report and why Indigenous partnerships are no longer optional but foundational to successful investment in Canada. This episode is essential listening for institutional investors, policymakers, corporate leaders, and Indigenous economic leaders as they navigate the future of capital, reconciliation, and economic sovereignty.

Mark and Rob kick off 2026 by exploring the Canadian levée tradition, tracing its origins back to 1606 and highlighting how Indigenous participation has been fundamental to this relationship-building custom since the very beginning.The episode features the "Best of Drumbeats 2025," showcasing highlights from the top 10 most influential guest conversations—including insights from leaders like Clint Davis, Harold Calla, and Jaimie Lickers—that define the current state of Indigenous investment and capital flow.Looking ahead, the hosts discuss the massive 2026 project pipeline, with over $116 billion in energy and mineral developments now referred to the Major Projects Office, all requiring meaningful Indigenous partnership for successful execution.