British Columbia just opened a $1 billion loan-guarantee program to help First Nations buy a stake in projects on their territory. Here is what it does, who qualifies, and how to put it to work.
For years the barrier was the same story in community after community. A Nation is offered a real ownership stake in a project on its land, the economics work, and then the financing falls down because a band has little credit history, limited collateral, and faces a high cost of borrowing. British Columbia's new First Nations Equity Financing Program is built to remove exactly that barrier. The Province announced it on June 16, 2026 under its Look West strategy, and applications are open now.
The first thing to be clear about is what a loan guarantee is. It is not a grant and not a loan. It is a financial backstop. The Nation still borrows from a commercial lender and still repays the loan from the revenue the project earns. The Province guarantees a share of that loan, which is what brings the cost of borrowing down and makes a bank willing to lend in the first place. The guarantor only steps in if the borrower defaults.
The numbers the Province has published for the launch are these. The program has a total cap of $1 billion in guarantees. A single guarantee can cover as much as 20% of a project's total capital cost, with the guaranteed amount ranging from a minimum of $5 million up to a maximum of $400 million. Projects fall into two categories: small and medium projects of $25 million to $125 million in capital cost, and large projects above $125 million. Applications move through three stages: a pre-screen intake to confirm eligibility, a full application with detailed project and business documentation, and a due-diligence review comparable to commercial lending before any guarantee is approved.
Eligibility is aimed at First Nations governments and the entities they control. The Province lists three eligible applicant types: B.C.-based Indigenous governing bodies such as band councils and modern Treaty Nations, B.C.-based First Nations development corporations that carry formal support from their governing body, and other incorporated entities owned and controlled by an Indigenous governing body with that same formal support.
The project itself has to clear a bar. It must sit within the applicant's territory, involve new construction or a substantial expansion of an existing asset, contribute new jobs and revenue, be set up as a legally separate entity from existing assets, and show clear commercial viability with returns strong enough to carry the debt. Some sectors are out of scope: housing, gaming, and infrastructure that does not generate revenue are not eligible. Energy, natural resources, tourism, agriculture, and aquaculture are all named as in scope, which covers a wide range of the project types a community is most likely to be weighing.
This program does not replace the federal tools. It sits alongside them. The federal Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program, delivered through the Canada Indigenous Loan Guarantee Corporation, was doubled to $10 billion in 2025 and offers guarantees from $20 million up to $1 billion for equity stakes in larger projects. The new provincial program is built to reach the smaller and mid-sized projects, starting at a $25 million capital cost, that the federal program is less suited to. A Nation weighing a major project may end up looking at both.
It also pairs with the grant and readiness side of the stack rather than competing with it. A loan guarantee helps a Nation finance the equity once a project is proven. It does nothing for the earlier work of proving the project, and that earlier work is what most communities need first. Readiness and feasibility funding, including clean-energy front-end work through Wah-ila-toos, pays for the studies and business cases that establish the very commercial viability the guarantee program demands. The grants get a project to credible; the guarantee helps finance it. For the debt and equity layer underneath, Indigenous-focused lenders such as First Nations Bank of Canada and Farm Credit Canada still do the actual lending the guarantee stands behind.
A loan guarantee solves a financing problem. It does not solve a project problem. The entire program is gated on commercial viability, which means the deciding document is a business case strong enough to satisfy a due-diligence review run like a bank's. That is the part communities most often underestimate. A Nation can hold a real ownership offer and still be turned down because the financial model, the revenue assumptions, and the project structure have not been worked out to a standard a lender will accept.
So the practical reading of this announcement is clear, even if acting on it takes work. If a Nation in British Columbia is being offered equity in an energy, resource, tourism, agriculture, or aquaculture project, the financing route just got materially easier. The job now is to make sure the project is shaped, modelled, and documented so it clears the gate. That is where the months of lead time go, and it is worth starting before an opportunity is on the clock. Our British Columbia practice works with communities and their partners on precisely this stage.
Start with the project, not the paperwork. The honest first question is whether the project can show the commercial returns the guarantee program is built around. If feasibility is not done, that is the first move, and if you are commissioning that study, see how to choose a feasibility consultant. If feasibility is in hand, the work is structuring the financing, lining up the lender, and preparing the application so it survives due diligence. A short conversation early usually saves a great deal of time later.
Related reading: the complete guide to funding a First Nations project and how to choose a feasibility consultant.
Program names, amounts, cost-share rates, and intake windows change between funding cycles. Confirm current requirements before you build a plan around any figure here, or ask us and we will check.
Tell us about it and we will map the financing path, from feasibility to the guarantee. No obligation, just a conversation.
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