AFN convenes emergency meeting as First Nations challenge fast-track projects bill

Ottawa is bracing for a collision between economic ambition and Indigenous rights. Prime Minister Mark Carney's government tabled legislation Friday designed to accelerate approvals for major infrastructure and resource projects across Canada. The bill arrived with little warning to the people it affects most directly. National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak of the Assembly of First Nations met with Carney on Thursday to voice alarm about what the legislation might do to First Nations sovereignty and treaty obligations. By Friday, when the bill became public, her organization had just received a copy. The legal review was only beginning.

The legislation operates on two tracks: dismantling internal trade barriers between provinces and fast-tracking major projects deemed to serve the national interest. To determine whether a project qualifies, the government has set five criteria. A project must show likelihood of success, strengthen Canada's economic resilience, advance Indigenous interests, contribute to economic growth, and do so in an environmentally responsible manner. On paper, Indigenous advancement is written into the test. In practice, First Nations leaders say the process that produced the bill suggests otherwise.

Woodhouse Nepinak described the consultation timeline as a fiction. First Nations leaders learned of the government's intentions in advance, but they were not shown the actual legislation. Instead, they were asked to submit concerns within seven days. When federal ministers spoke publicly about the bill Friday, they claimed Indigenous consultation had occurred. Woodhouse Nepinak pushed back directly: "That's insufficient, and that's not acceptable." She told Carney that he cannot use the Assembly of First Nations as a shortcut around direct engagement with individual First Nations governments. "He needs to meet with rights-holders directly. He can't use the AFN to bypass First Nations," she said.

The core legal concern is consent. The bill's language does not explicitly require what international law and Canadian court decisions have increasingly demanded: free, prior, and informed consent from Indigenous peoples before projects affecting their territories proceed. Woodhouse Nepinak warned that without this protection, "protracted litigation" is likely. First Nations support resource development and revenue sharing, she emphasized, but not at the cost of their collective rights. The Assembly of First Nations is calling an emergency meeting next week to give chiefs a forum to direct the organization's response and decide how to move forward collectively.

Former National Chief Phil Fontaine initiated the call for the emergency session, framing the moment as one where governments are rushing economic development without respecting Indigenous authority. Federal ministers have already signaled how narrowly they intend to read Indigenous interests into the legislation. Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Rebecca Alty said that closing the First Nations infrastructure gap would not qualify as "nation-building" under the bill's criteria. Justice Minister Sean Fraser stated plainly that First Nations do not have a "veto" over infrastructure projects. These comments, Woodhouse Nepinak said, were "disheartening."

Indigenous leaders have made clear what could follow if consultation remains superficial and rights are not honored: widespread protests and blockades are possible. Woodhouse Nepinak called on Parliament and the Senate to slow down, to give First Nations and other rights-holders genuine time to review the legislation, propose amendments, and be heard before passage. She also noted the practical strain on First Nations leadership right now—many communities are dealing with wildfires and the crises that follow. The timing, she said, could not be worse. What happens in the coming weeks will signal whether the federal government views Indigenous consultation as a legal obligation or a box to check.