Indigenous-owned financial firms are forming new partnerships with major Canadian banks to unlock capital for large-scale First Nations infrastructure projects. The collaborations aim to bridge a widening infrastructure gap and support communities seeking equity participation in major developments, from energy transmission lines to housing and broadband.
BNN Bloomberg spoke with Fred Di Blasio, co-founder and CEO of Longhouse Capital Partners, about how blended financing models, federal loan guarantee programs and bank partnerships can accelerate project timelines and empower First Nations to play a leading role in Canada’s infrastructure build-out.
Key Takeaways
- Longhouse Capital Partners aims to raise a $1-billion fund using blended finance to support major First Nations infrastructure projects, including energy transmission and broadband.
- Canada faces an estimated $200-billion annual infrastructure gap, far exceeding the one-time $20-billion available through federal and provincial loan guarantee programs.
- Di Blasio says partnering with First Nations early can accelerate timelines, citing projects such as B.C.’s Sen̓áḵw development and Ontario’s Chatham-to-Lakeshore transmission line.
- CIBC has partnered with Longhouse, offering due diligence, institutional platform access and investor introductions to help raise capital from large institutions.
- Longhouse blends institutional investment, loan guarantees and concessionary capital to lower financing costs and expand opportunities for First Nations to participate in equity ownership.
Read the full transcript below:
ROGER: Canada’s big banks are partnering with Indigenous-owned financial firms across the country. In April of this year, Indigenous-owned asset manager and strategic advisory firm Longhouse Capital Partners joined forces with CIBC. Longhouse is raising capital to build a $1-billion fund to finance major First Nations projects in Indigenous communities, including wireless towers and transmission lines. Joining us now is Fred Di Blasio, co-founder and CEO at Longhouse Capital Partners. Fred, thanks very much for joining us.
FRED: Good morning.
ROGER: Let’s talk a little bit about the fund. What do you want to see accomplished with this, and why not work with the government on this? Or will you be working with the government?
FRED: I think we will work with everyone. Quite candidly, simplistically, Longhouse is an Indigenous-led investment platform that’s built to deliver, frankly, the missing piece in Canada’s infrastructure strategy, which is access to scalable, affordable capital for First Nations to participate in Indigenous equity. And we’re seeing that through a blended finance approach, where we take market-based capital and marry that to all of the existing federal and provincial loan guarantee programs across the country.
According to some of the McKinsey research we were able to find, it looks like Canada’s infrastructure gap is about $200 billion per annum, which is a huge number for the next decade. So you’re looking at well over a trillion dollars of investment opportunities. Contrast that with the capital available through those blended finance solutions, like the Indigenous loan guarantee program the federal government has put forth, which is $10 billion. When you aggregate all of those numbers, you’re getting to about $20 billion — and that’s a one-time $20 billion. If you contrast that with the $200 billion required on a per-annum basis for the next decade, you can quickly see the mismatch between what is required and what is available from a loan guarantee program.
So Longhouse really allows for that blended capital to take place and delivers significant amounts of capital for First Nations to take advantage of the equity call-option rights they’ve been afforded through UNDRIP, which was ratified back in 2021.
ROGER: Okay.
MIKE: Fred, that’s great. I’m wondering — we always hear about infrastructure projects getting bottlenecked with permitting delays and approval delays by various levels of government. Do you believe you’ll be able to fast-track some of these projects to expediently address some of the deficiencies within infrastructure in First Nations communities?
FRED: I would say First Nations are definitely open for business, and when you partner up front with First Nations, you quickly realize that not only are they loyal, but they’re fairly sophisticated, and they assist in countless different ways to accelerate projects.
I had the good fortune of working with a Nation out west where we were able to deliver $1.4 billion to develop their lands rapidly — and that was the Sen̓áḵw development here in British Columbia. Notably as well, our current Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Tim Hodgson, when he was at Hydro One, instituted a wholesale change in the approach Hydro One takes with First Nations, which I think has served as a template for the rest of the country.
In a nutshell, what he did was take the Indigenous relations group out of the risk-management group and put it into the business-development group. A very significant difference in how First Nations are approached. He quickly realized that if he was going to double the rate base in Ontario, he needed to become the partner of choice for First Nations. And I won’t bore you with all the details, but suffice it to say that we now have the Chatham-to-Lakeshore transmission line, which was built about 15 per cent under budget and 18 months ahead of schedule.
So when I hear comments about First Nations slowing things down, I’d submit to you that when you partner with us — and you do so at the front end of projects, in the spirit of free, prior and informed consent — you’ll find us very willing partners who are practical and like to get to solutions that satisfy everybody. What is good for First Nations is good for all Canadians, frankly. And given that Indigenous equity is now a federal priority, I think it hastens the speed at which we can operate under the new constructs.
ROGER: And now you have CIBC on board with you. How is that unfolding, and are the banks showing interest in this?
FRED: CIBC has been a terrific partner for Longhouse. It’s a Big Six bank, and getting that kind of seal of approval, if you will, is a manifest improvement to our own reputation. We went through an extensive due-diligence process to be placed on their institutional platform, and they have been nothing but outstanding partners for us. Not only are they making introductions, they’re helping us raise capital. We’re incredibly excited at what has already transpired, and we look forward to some announcements in the new year that I think they will also be proud of.
ROGER: All right, and are you looking at private investment? Are you getting private investors on board?
FRED: The way we operate is we’re in the market looking for institutional capital. We’re about to close on the first $300 million, which should be done in the first quarter of ’26, and that will be institutional capital — think large insurance companies, etc. We combine that with the projects we advise on, with what is available from loan guarantee programs, and what we refer to as concessionary capital. So we blend market-based capital with concessionary capital to achieve an avoided average cost of capital that’s substantially lower than if you were trying to find equity dollars alone, which are typically much more expensive.
We’re seeing an acceleration of that. Large corporates are keen to do business, and this country will be rebuilt through the participation of First Nations. Longhouse provides what we feel is a market-ready solution by blending private-credit and federal tools in a way that advances the country’s desire to build infrastructure, which, of course, is good for all Canadians.
ROGER: We’ll have to wrap it up there, Fred. Thank you very much for joining us today.
FRED: Thank you.
ROGER: Fred Di Blasio is co-founder and CEO at Longhouse Capital Partners.
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This BNN Bloomberg summary and transcript of the Dec. 4, 2025 interview with Fred Di Blasio are published with the assistance of AI. Original research, interview questions and added context was created by BNN Bloomberg journalists. An editor also reviewed this material before it was published to ensure its accuracy and adherence with BNN Bloomberg editorial policies and standards.
