Jon Davey: Why Canada's Biggest Projects Can't Get Built Without Indigenous Capital

For institutional investors, infrastructure fund managers, and senior advisors evaluating Canadian project opportunities, the question is no longer whether Indigenous equity participation matters - it is how the financing actually works, and what the federal government is doing to accelerate it. This episode answers both questions directly.

In Part 2 of our conversation with Jonathan Davey, Managing Director of Indigenous and Government Advisory at Scotiabank's Global Banking and Markets division, we move from the biographical to the operational. Jonathan is Haudenosaunee and a member of the Lower Cayuga Nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River. He brings a decade of Indigenous law practice, five years building Scotiabank's Indigenous financial services group, and a year in the office of Scotiabank's President and CEO to a conversation that covers the full mechanics of Indigenous project finance in Canada today.

In Part 2, Jonathan covers:

• Section 89 of the Indian Act - why this single provision has historically been the greatest barrier to capital access for Indigenous communities, and the leasehold financing structures and investment vehicles practitioners use to navigate it
• Concessionary capital - what it is, where it comes from, and how forthcoming amendments to the First Nations Fiscal Management Act will allow the First Nations Finance Authority to provide low-cost capital directly to Indigenous special purpose vehicles for the first time
• Canada's $10 billion Indigenous Loan Guarantee Corporation - how federal and provincial loan guarantee programmes are bringing institutional lender risk weights close to zero on qualifying transactions, and what that means for the cost of capital on major projects
• The Build Canada Act and Major Projects Office - why every project of national interest now requires Indigenous participation, what the federal permit designation programme means for project timelines, and why Jonathan describes the current moment as a massive sea change
• The investment case for partnering with Indigenous groups - beyond the financial incentives, why Jonathan argues that Indigenous business acumen, stewardship, and traditional knowledge make these partnerships operationally compelling, not just politically necessary
• What has genuinely changed in Canada - a direct answer to the question sceptical international investors are asking, from someone who has watched the shift from inside one of Canada's largest banks

The key message for UK and European investors: the structures, programmes, and federal commitment that make Indigenous equity participation in major Canadian projects financially compelling are live now. The practitioners exist, the capital is available, and the deal flow in Jonathan's own words is unlike anything he has seen before.