Canadian Context
Energy is the backbone of a better quality of life for Canada's remote and Indigenous communities. Our responsibility to provide the supportive resources these communities need to not only meet their current minimum energy needs but to plan for plenty.
Four steps are required to establish this as an area of national priority:
1. Commit to a step change in investment Canada’s federal government should increase its overall funding commitments for energy in remote communities from the tens of millions to the billions in the immediate future. This funding should be seen as a priority area for ongoing green infrastructure spending programs.
2. Recognize Indigenous leadership and support capacity building In order to ensure long-term economic and social benefits, Indigenous clean energy leadership must be recognized and supported through capacity building programs.
3. Create a single, intergovernmental point of contact A single point of contact within government – whose responsibility is to ensure those initiating and managing energy projects can navigate regulations, funding and reporting at the federal and provincial/territorial level and across relevant departments – is essential.
4. Connect people, technologies and information Knowledge sharing between communities and innovative institutions is critical to success.Private and public sectors should be encouraged to utilize up-to-date information and innovative technologies to seek new arrangements for energy projects in remote communities that are financially sustainable over the long term.
Videos
|
On November 17, 2015 Dr. Doris Sáez Hueichapan visited Waterloo from the University of Chile to deliver a lecture entitled 'Design of A Participatory Model/Microgrid/Smart-Farm System for the Mapuche Indigenous Communities'. |
|
|
TVO's The Agenda examines energy access and poverty within Canada's indigenous population. Filmed April 2016 during the WGSI OpenAccess energy Summit at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo. |
|
|
Filmed at WISE Energy Day in March 2017, our panel of experts discussed the need for affordable and clean energy in remote indigenous communities across Canada. Chris Henderson, founder of Lumos Energy and Canada's pre-eminent expert on indigenous clean energy delivers the keynote address. |
Recent Publications
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
