Ottawa tells chiefs to submit questions before meeting with PM on major projects bill

Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 28, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Ottawa has asked First Nations chiefs to submit their questions in advance of their meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney next week to discuss his government’s controversial major projects bill.

Bill C-5, the Building Canada Act, allows cabinet to quickly grant federal approvals for big industrial projects like mines, ports and pipelines by sidestepping existing laws.

Carney promised to meet with First Nations after chiefs said their rights were not respected by the rush to push the bill through Parliament.

The invitation to the July 17 meeting shared with The Canadian Press shows the government is giving chiefs until July 16 to submit questions they want answered, and says they will have the option to vote on which questions will be posed by their peers.

The invitation says that process will help highlight “shared priorities and bring the most pressing issues to the forefront.”

Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said Friday that chiefs are “united” ahead of the meeting and are still alarmed at the way the legislation was pushed through Parliament with little input from First Nations.

“First Nations are united in an understanding that we have always supported economic development and prosperity for all, but not at the expense of our rights or responsible environmental stewardship,” Woodhouse Nepinak said.

The Assembly of First Nations met Thursday to discuss the bill and the upcoming meeting with the federal government.

Woodhouse Nepinak said during that meeting that while “some important amendments have been made” to the legislation — including one removing a clause that would have allowed Ottawa to sidestep the Indian Act — not enough was done to quell First Nations’ concerns.

She pointed to an amendment posed by Sen. Paul Prosper to include language on free, prior and informed consent in the legislation. The amendment did not pass.

Sen. Prosper told the meeting he’s “worried about how future governments will use this law” and whether the next economic crisis might give them cover to sidestep laws again.

“I’m worried about the process (being) repeated in the future, when the next big emergency happens,” he said.

Former national chief Ovide Mercredi said at the meeting Thursday he hopes First Nations chiefs attend the July 17 meeting “strong and confident,” and that they don’t compromise the rights of their people.

“I think Canadians need to suffer a little bit just to understand what we have experienced as a people since the founding of this country. The fear that they have losing their wealth they never shared with us is real for them,” he said.

“They can curtail their spending, whatever they have to do to save money, to maintain their house, their businesses. But they don’t need to use the excuse of a president down south as a reason for curtailing any interest that we have as a people.”

The major projects bill was introduced largely in response to economic threats from U.S. President Donald Trump in a bid to strengthen the Canadian economy against U.S. tariffs, by developing major projects more quickly.

In a letter to Carney on Thursday, Trump threatened to impose 35 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods on Aug. 1 — setting a new deadline for the trade talks that were supposed to wrap up by July 21.

With files from David Baxter and Kelly Malone

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025

Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press