$100M loan deal reached to develop Enoch Cree Nation

Key Takeaways:

• The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has provided a $100 million loan to the Enoch Cree Nation to support infrastructure for a 256-acre mixed-use development, including essential utilities, roads, and facilities such as a cultural center, medical center, and elders facility.
• The project aims to diversify the Enoch Cree Nation’s economy, creating a self-sustaining future for over 2,800 community members while generating up to 800 jobs for both local and surrounding area residents.
• Nation officials emphasize the historic significance of this investment in closing long-standing infrastructure gaps faced by many Indigenous communities, highlighting the financial accessibility provided by the CIB’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative.

The Whole Story:

The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) has reached financial close on a $100 million loan to help the Enoch Cree Nation develop its reserve near Edmonton, Alberta. The agreement enables a future elders facility, a cultural centre and medical centre and more than $1 billion in commercial and residential development.

The enabling infrastructure includes construction of water and wastewater mains, roads and installation of underground utilities at the 256-acre mixed-use development.

Officials say the development will diversify the First Nation’s economy and create a self-sustaining future for more than 2,800 community members.

The project will also support up to 800 jobs for community members and individuals living in the surrounding areas. Enoch Civil Construction LP, the First Nation’s heavy civil construction company, will hold the primary contract for the project as the general contractor. Construction is expected to be completed in 2027.

The investment follows a $15-million CIB loan in August 2023 towards upgrades to the main transportation artery within the reserve, including pedestrian crossings and a new multi-use pedestrian trail.

“Our second investment with the Enoch Cree Nation supports its ongoing work to develop their reserve and create a self-sustaining future for community members,” said Ehren Cory, CEO, Canada Infrastructure Bank. “The enabling infrastructure will create jobs and needed road, water and wastewater infrastructure. The end result will be a new mixed-use development with office and retail space and community resources.

Nation officials noted that the announcement is historic and begins to help address infrastructure issues that many other Indigenous groups face.

“Like many First Nation communities in Canada, we have struggled to address many infrastructure gaps that hinder our Nation from moving forward,” said Enoch Cree Nation Chief Cody Thomas. “The CIB’s Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative has allowed our Nation to borrow the necessary capital to address some of the infrastructure gaps that we are currently experiencing at terms that are financially suitable.”