Alberta raises Crown agency’s loan guarantee capacity, cites economic reconciliation | CityNews Calgary

Alberta’s premier has introduced the federal government is increasing the mortgage assure capability of the Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp.

Premier Danielle Smith says Indigenous Peoples have traditionally been neglected and underserved inside Alberta’s financial system, and that her authorities is trying to change that.

The province says it has doubled the Crown company’s mortgage assure capability to $2 billion and can improve it to $3 billion in 2024-25.

The Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corp., which launched in 2019, is meant to handle long-standing boundaries for Indigenous teams by decreasing the prices of borrowing and growing the quantities that may be borrowed for main infrastructure tasks.

Alberta Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson says the federal Indian Act doesn’t permit First Nations to make use of their land as collateral and makes it laborious for them to borrow cash for such tasks.

Chana Martineau, CEO of the Crown company, says that since 2019, it has helped 27 Indigenous communities make investments over $500 million in large-scale infrastructure tasks in Alberta.

This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Oct. 30, 2023.

The Canadian Press