The new federal democrats criticize Prime Minister Mark Carney for a first nation in the demand of $ 100 million ontarium against a second level subsidiary of his former signature, Brookfield Asset Management.
In 2022, Mississauga First Nation (MFN) and his boss sued Brookfield Brp Canada Corp. and the Ontario government for alleged infractions of indigenous rights and obligations of the treaty in the construction and operation of four dams in the Mississagi River.
The first nation, located near the northern coast of Lake Huron, 200 kilometers northwest of Toronto, alleges that the dams owned by BRP of Brookfield “have devastated MFN, their territory and their ability to exercise their rights,” according to the documents of the upper ontary court obtained by CBC indigenus.
The dams were previously operated by Ontario Hydro, but sold to Brookfield BRP in 2002. When the demand was first filed, Carney was vice president and transition leader investing in Brookfield Asset Management, says a archived web page.
The first nation says it was never consulted before sale.
“MFN has been and continues to be deeply affected by the dams and will be in the coming decades,” says a modified claim statement of February 20, 2025.
None of the accusations has been tested in court.
The Mississauga chief Brent Niganobe said the community would have preferred to solve the problems without litigation.
“We ask not to follow this route and try to do things on equal terms, which is what Carney preaches and especially with her private company,” Niganobe said Friday.
The NDP says that the dispute shows the need for Carney to reveal possible conflicts of interest and projects with which it is connected.
“There are many questions about his time in Brookfield and we practically have no answers,” said Manitoba Deputy Niki Ashton during a virtual press conference on Friday.
At the press conference, Ashton joined the NDP candidate for the driving of Sault Ste. Marie -algoma, Laura Mayer, member of the first Mississauga nation.
The prime minister’s office has not responded to a request for comments. Brookfield Asset Management has not responded either.
Brookfield Asset Management has an interest of 61 percent in Brookfield Renewable Partners, which is the Brookfield BRP parent company, also known as Evolugen, according to lobbying records. Brookfield BRP has 49 renewable energy facilities in Ontario.
When asked why it is fair to criticize Carney given the apparent distance between the parents and the subsidiary, Ashton said that Carney “was in a leadership role in Brookfield and the buck stops with the leader.”
Brookfield BRP is defending the case and denies the accusations. The dams were built several decades ago and operated subject to the supervision of the crown under a comprehensive regulatory and legal regime, says a modified defense presented on March 3, 2025.
The company denies that it has any duty to consult the first nation, denies that the plaintiffs have suffered damage and says that the first nation does not have enough property rights over the supposedly affected lands.
Electoral promises
Carney has not said much about her approach to indigenous peoples since she was sworn, but in her 2021 book, ValuesIt provides a track, Carney says that any effort for sustainability “must be in association with indigenous peoples” as part of a broader economic reconciliation project.
“More fundamentally, our sustainability approach should resort to the wisdom of indigenous peoples,” writes the former central banker.
“Indigenous communities know that environmental and economic considerations are not independent factors that will face each other. They are intrinsically linked.”
It is good to say it, but the Carney government will have to show it, Niganobe said.
‘If that is what he believes, then that is what he must practice. And his government, that is what they should practice, “he said.
“We should not be in the background to the other things that are happening.”
At a March 18 stop in Nunavut, Carney promised to ensure the Arctic, “unleashes the economic potential of the North and reaffirms reconciliation with indigenous peoples.”
In a press release, the NDP deputy for Nunavut Lori Idlout criticized Carney for announcing $ 6 billion for an early dressing radar system, but only $ 66 million for homes in the territory.
“This is not acceptable. This is not reconciliation,” he said.
The conservative leader Pierre Poilievre also recently appeared in the north, promising last month to build a military base in Nunavut to counteract the interests of foreign adversaries in the region.
Poilievre pledged this week to accelerated projects in the region of the Fire Ring region of Fire Rich Rich Rich of Fire from Northern Ontario, causing criticism of the great head of the Nishnawbe Aski nation, as well as some praise of two first nations in the area.
