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Crystal Smith and Jerry Daniels say reconciliation is partnerships that deliver at home.
By Geoff Russ
Nov 13. – Resource Works IPSS 2025. Photo credit Resource Works or Resource Works/LTB Productions.
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Reconciliation measured by outcomes, not rhetoric
At the Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase on November 13, former Haisla Nation chief councillor Crystal Smith and Southern Chiefs’ Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels used their keynote appearances to push a common message: reconciliation must be measured by results in communities, not rhetoric in Ottawa.
Opening his remarks with gratitude to the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, Daniels framed Indigenous partnership as nation-building work tied to real assets, jobs, and governance.
He argued for a corridor view of Canada’s economy that includes the North, telling delegates, “Churchill is Canada’s only deep Arctic seaport, right in the heart of the North, surrounded by Cree, Dene and Inuit territories.” He linked that geography to a wider ambition for food, minerals, and clean-energy trade flowing “from the centre of the continent” to global markets, making the case that Indigenous leadership belongs at the centre of planning and ownership.
‘When First Nations prosper, Canada prospers’
Jerry Daniels delivering his keynote address at the 2025 Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase.
Daniels repeatedly returned to outcomes. “Everyone benefits, because when First Nations prosper, Canada prospers,” he said, urging governments and companies to approach First Nations as partners with jurisdiction and responsibilities, not as stakeholders to be managed. He described how diverse coalitions can de-risk big projects and strengthen social cohesion when Indigenous governments hold real equity and help set environmental standards.
His case drew on recent work in Manitoba that predates the Vancouver stage.
The Southern Chiefs’ Organization acquired Winnipeg’s historic Hudson’s Bay building for the Wehwehneh Bahgahkinahgohn redevelopment, a project backed by major provincial and federal funding to deliver affordable housing, health and cultural services, and education space.
SCO then signed a memorandum of understanding with True North Real Estate Development to align the Bay project with the renewal of Portage Place. Daniels has called those partnerships “what true economic reconciliation looks like,” presenting them as replicable models where capital, service delivery, and cultural priorities move together.
Crystal Smith: ‘Reconciliation is friendship’
Crystal Smith addresses the audience at the 2025 Indigenous Partnerships Success Showcase.
Crystal Smith, speaking later in the program, rooted her message in lived experience from Kitamaat Village and years of negotiating for tangible benefits at home.
“Recently, I attended the energy summit, and I heard something that has stayed with me ever since, someone said reconciliation is friendship,” she told the audience. That framing, she added, forces leaders to show up consistently, communicate plainly, and keep promises in ways communities can see and feel.
Smith emphasized that the Haisla approach was not about symbolism. It was about moving from dependence to shared decision-making. “We’re talking about transforming relationships from exclusion to partnership, from dependency to shared leadership,” she said, before describing how engagement with Haisla citizens, including those living away from home, shaped decisions on training, employment, and environmental oversight.
Delivering projects that reflect community priorities
Smith connected those principles to project delivery on the Douglas Channel. The Haisla were early leaders in agreements tied to liquefied natural gas development, and went further by becoming the majority owner, with Pembina Pipeline, of Cedar LNG, a floating facility designed to run on clean electricity and subjected to provincial and federal reviews that cleared in 2023.
In Kitimat, Canada’s first large-scale LNG terminal loaded its inaugural cargo in late June, while enabling works for Cedar LNG’s electrification have advanced with provincial support for a new transmission line. Smith cast those milestones as the products of long, sometimes difficult, institution-building and negotiations that never lost sight of Haisla priorities on land and water.
Urgency over blame, partnership over politics
Both speakers urged a forward-leaning posture from governments and industry. Daniels argued that Canada’s competitiveness depends on treating Indigenous nations as governments with constitutional standing and economic mandates. Smith pressed for urgency without blame. “There is no time to point fingers,” she said, calling for practical collaboration that brings families home, deepens skills, and leaves institutions stronger than when leaders first take office.
The Showcase, which added an Indigenous-led stream called The Gathering this year, set out to model that blend of vision and execution.
In Vancouver, Smith and Daniels gave it a clear voice. Reconciliation will be judged by housing that opens, lines that power clean facilities, equity that pays dividends, and young people who choose to build a life in their communities.
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