Leaders from more than half a dozen Indigenous groups have signed onto a letter of intent to collaborate on a major hydroelectricity project in the N.W.T. It’s a step toward potential Indigenous ownership of the project.

The Taltson hydro facility provides power to the N.W.T.’s South Slave region. Though plagued by maintenance issues in recent years, it has long been considered for expansion.

Last month, an overhaul and expansion of the facility, including an underwater cable to carry power to the north shore of Great Slave Lake, was identified by Prime Minister Mark Carney as part of an “ambitious” plan to invest in new infrastructure in the North.

In a release sent Thursday, Salt River First Nation confirmed Chief Toni Heron signed a letter of intent supporting the project. CBC News has confirmed the Łutsel K’e Dene First Nation, the Northwest Territories Métis Nation, the Fort Smith Métis Council, the Hay River Métis Government Council and the Fort Resolution Métis Government are also signatories.

Leaders from the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the final Indigenous partner on the project, did not respond to requests for comment.

Ownership ‘is a fact’

The letter of intent is a step toward Indigenous governments becoming owners of the project, say Garry Bailey, president of the N.W.T. Métis Nation.

“We are going to be owners — that’s gonna be a fact,” he said.

If so, that would be a departure from previous ill-fated attempts to expand the facility, like one led by the Dezé Energy Corporation in the 2010s. That plan would have seen the Indigenous Akaitcho government share ownership with the Northwest Territories Power Corporation and the territory, with no role for Métis governments.

This time, Bailey said, there is a new spirit of collaboration between the many Indigenous groups involved.

“The good thing about this is, we’ll have those discussions about working together again, like it used to be back in the day, with the Dene/Métis,” he said, referencing failed efforts to secure a comprehensive land claim for both groups in the 1990s. “This is a chance for us to work together and share the benefits.”

Salt River Chief Toni Heron echoed those sentiments.

“We need to work together, not only on this project, but on future developments,” she says in a written statement in the First Naton’s news release. “The only thing that stands in our way is ourselves and our politics. It’s time to set those aside and focus on the future of our children.”

Controversial dam — and expansion

Built in 1965, the Taltson hydro facility is located 64 kilometres from Carney’s birthplace of Fort Smith, N.W.T. It was constructed to provide power to the nearby Pine Point lead-zinc mine, now defunct.

The construction of the dam irreparably altered the traditional lands of several Dene and Métis communities in the region — particularly the town of Rocher River, which was abandoned by the late ‘60s.

“It affected all the animals, all the traplines that people had there,” Bailey explained. “‘Til today, people can’t use that area the way they used to. To put a price on that? I can’t think of a price.”

According to Salt River First Nation, these “legacy concerns” were a focus of a two-day meeting hosted by Salt River between Indigenous leaders and N.W.T. deputy premier Caroline Wawzonek, who’s also responsible for the Northwest Territories Power Corporation.

Speaking to CBC News on Friday, Wawzonek said there “needs to be a clear sense that the legacy [of Taltson] is resolved or on the path to resolution” before construction begins in 2028.

She said the territorial government is open to Indigenous ownership of the expansion project, but cautioned there are bigger risks if that ownership were to involve the entire Taltson facility.

“There could be a very long-term vision of coming to ownership of the whole thing,” she said. “That comes with obviously a lot of commercial risk, and a fairly significant price tag.”

Though considered for decades, the Taltson expansion has long been controversial because it has been unclear whether there is adequate demand to support a bigger facility.

While the north shore’s Snare Hydro System, which powers Yellowknife, has sometimes struggled to meet demand, previous expansion plans were scrapped when it was unclear the territory’s diamond mines would purchase enough power to make the expansion profitable.

With those mines now closing, some current and former MLAs have voiced concerns that the cost of expansion will fall to ratepayers if large industrial customers fail to materialize.

Latest estimates suggest the total cost of the expansion could near $3 billion.

“We don’t want to come to premature conclusions,” Wawzonek said. “We want to figure out what kind of risks are there.

“How much revenue do we expect, on what kind of timescale? And what are the costs that need to be borne by an owner?”

For his part, Bailey said he’s not worried.

“We’ve got an idea of who our clients are going to be already,” he said. “We do see that there’s power needed north of the lake.”

He suggested the military, which is making major investments in the territory, would consume some 30 per cent of Taltson’s expanded capacity.

The proposed expansion would quadruple the facility’s output, producing more than 80 megawatts of power.

Later stages of the project also propose connections to Alberta and Saskatchewan’s grids.

If connected to the north shore as planned, the facility would eventually provide power to more than 70 per cent of the territory’s residents.