Tag Archives: Chief Greg Desjarlais

Energy, Indigenous Nations

First Nations leaders push for energy wealth and ownership at Canadian Hydrogen Convention

By Jeremy Appel,  Alberta Native News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

Less than a week before Billy Morin was elected as the Conservative MP for Edmonton Northwest in the Canadian federal election, the former elected chief of Enoch Cree Nation moderated a panel on Indigenous opportunities in hydrogen.

The Canadian Hydrogen Convention was held on April 23 and 24 at the Edmonton Convention Centre, with the second day including the panel, “Indigenous Partnerships for a Clean Energy Future.”

Grand Chief Greg Desjarlais of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations, Salish Elements chairman and co-founder Reuben George, and Xaxli’p (Fountain First Nation) executive director Andrew Mercer spoke on the Morin-moderated panel.

Salish Elements, an Indigenous-run company that produces green hydrogen—meaning hydrogen that is made with water, rather than natural gas—signed a May 2024 agreement to build a 25-megawatt hydrogen production facility on the Xaxli’p reserve in Lillooet, British Columbia.

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Indigenous Nations, Spirituality

Leaders of the host Nations discuss the mixed emotions surrounding the papal apology

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By Chevi Rabbit, Alberta Native News, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

(Ermineskin Cree Nation, Treaty Six Territory) – It was an historic three days in central Alberta as Pope Francis embarked on his “penitential visit.”  The first stop in the Papal visit was in Maskwacis, where the Pope offered an emotional apology at the site of the former Ermineskin Residential School. His remarks evoked a range of emotions. The Chiefs of Treaty Six First Nations provided these reflections as part of a press conference following the Pope’s apology in Ermineskin Cree Nation.

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