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Pillar 3: Economic inclusion and partnerships

Enbridge strives to create, engage in, and stimulate positive and mutually beneficial financial impacts, opportunities and potential partnerships with Indigenous groups and businesses.

Our commitments

Focus	Commitment	Details	Goal	Timeline
Indigenous financial partnerships	Continue to explore and execute Indigenous commercial equity partnerships.	Indigenous commercial equity partnerships provide an opportunity to better align interests with Indigenous groups and encourage economic inclusion and reconciliation. Maintain an internal Indigenous Financial Partnerships Working Group to: Maintain standards and criteria for commercial partnerships within the company’s investment review processes that account for various regulatory, legal and socio-economic considerations. Share best practices. Maintain adequate resources to assess and potentially execute Indigenous commercial partnership opportunities. Engage with Indigenous groups to seek feedback and assess alignment between Enbridge’s processes, market opportunities and new opportunities for Indigenous commercial economic participation.	Maintain an internal Indigenous Financial Partnerships Working Group. Continue to implement processes and strategies internally to review assets and projects to consider Indigenous commercial equity participation and encourage early engagement with Indigenous groups. Maintain appropriate dedicated positions and multidisciplinary teams to assess and execute prospective commercial partnership opportunities. Commit to the development of two additional Indigenous commercial economic partnerships by the end of 2027.	2025-2027
Supplier capacity development	Advance opportunities for Indigenous businesses to participate in Enbridge’s supply chain.	Develop and conduct information sessions to provide guidance and education to Indigenous businesses seeking participation in Enbridge’s supply chain. Continue to provide support for Indigenous businesses navigating Enbridge’s procurement system. Expand current Indigenous business contact mechanism to include options for feedback from Indigenous businesses.	Develop and conduct at least 10 information sessions over three years. Expand on existing mechanism for Indigenous businesses and communicate enhancement to make Indigenous businesses aware of the mechanism.	2025-2027
Indigenous procurement	Advance Indigenous procurement spending⁶.	The 2022 IRAP resulted in an articulated aspiration of an additional C$1 billion (US$714 million) of Indigenous procurement spend between 2023 and 2030. Progress is reported annually in our Sustainability Report.	Execute and report on the progress towards the 2030 goal for an additional C$1B (US$714 million) of Indigenous procurement spend.	2030
Indigenous procurement	Explore opportunities to remove contracting barriers and support Indigenous contractors.	Review contracting payment mechanisms and processes to identify and remove barriers to increase participation and positive outcomes for Indigenous businesses.	Where possible, remove contracting barriers and implement appropriate mechanisms to accelerate payments to Indigenous contractors.	2026

Star New commitment
Right arrow Refreshed commitment

⁶ Enbridge takes direction from the leadership of Indigenous groups on which Indigenous members, companies and partners are available for economic inclusion purposes. We also consider economic opportunities for any incorporated business with a combined Indigenous ownership/controlling interest greater than 50% and include the burdened cost of wages for all self-identified Indigenous workers.

2022 - 2024 progress and outcomes

Four new partnerships established since 2022:

Plaza/Wabek Pipeline Sale (North Dakota)
Wabamun Carbon Hub (Alberta)
Seven Stars Energy (Saskatchewan)
Athabasca Indigenous Investments Partnership (Alberta): At the time, in 2023, Project Rocket was the largest energy-related Indigenous economic partnership transaction in North America. It saw communities acquire an 11.57% interest in seven Enbridge-operated pipelines in northern Alberta for $1.12 billion (US$800 million).

Eight business information sessions and business summits completed
Expanded current Indigenous Business contact mechanism (indigenousbusiness@enbridge.com) to include options for feedback from Indigenous Business to Supply Chain Management Indigenous Engagement (SCM IE)
In our 2022 IRAP, our aim was to spend an additional C$1 billion (US$714 million) by 2030:

Since 2023, we have spent C$757 million (US$514 million)
The total Indigenous spend to date is C$2.757 billion (US$1.97 billion)

Achieved:

Established an email address that directly connects Indigenous businesses to SCM IE
Indigenous Financial Partnership working group established

See our actions to date:

2023 Sustainability Report

Spotlight:
Plaza/Wabek Pipeline sale: MHA Nation and Enbridge

A precedent-setting sale welcomes the first Tribal shipper on Enbridge’s mainline system and represents an investment in generational opportunities for one North Dakota Tribe.

With more than 17,000 enrolled members across nearly a million acres of land, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation (MHA Nation) of North Dakota offers a wide range of services to its people—from finance to child care, from housing to health care, from employment training to cybersecurity to Veterans affairs.

The MHA Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, also operates an energy division that includes oil production and processing. In June 2023, Enbridge and the MHA Nation announced that Thunder Butte Petroleum Services Inc., a wholly owned MHA Nation subsidiary, would purchase the Plaza/Wabek Pipeline from Enbridge for C$7 million (US$5 million), making MHA Nation the first Tribal shipper on the Enbridge system.

The Plaza/Wabek Pipeline is a six-inch-diameter oil pipeline traveling approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) from a gathering system in the Plaza/Wabek fields of the Fort Berthold Reservation to Enbridge’s Stanley Terminal in Stanley, ND. The line has a transport capacity of 15,000 barrels per day.

“Becoming one of the first Tribal shippers on the Enbridge system is a win-win situation. Creating an avenue of transmission to move our energy trust assets and resources to the marketplace will help further support various projects, programs and infrastructure, and increase our nation’s standard of living,” said Mark Fox, Tribal Chairman at MHA Nation. “Enbridge interacted with respect and professionalism throughout the process, and it has been a pleasure to work with them.”

Respectful and transparent engagement regarding the long-term goals of both the MHA Nation and Enbridge allowed for productive negotiations, and ultimately for the sale to proceed. In that same spirit, as work continues to finalize the necessary agreements and build the infrastructure required for the projected 2025 in-service date, both parties remain committed to working collaboratively and in the spirit of partnership.

“It was an honor to spend time getting to know the history, culture and people of MHA Nation through our negotiations and discussions on the Plaza/Wabek pipeline sale,” said Sam Munckhof-Swain, Enbridge’s Director of Indigenous Economic Partnerships. “As they become the first Tribal shipper on Enbridge’s mainline system and their crude resources are able to access crucial markets across North America, this creates new generational opportunities for MHA Nation as they invest in their people for future generations.”

Mark N. Fox, Chairman of the MHA Nation, left, and Enbridge’s Mike Koby sign the sale agreement. Standing at rear are members of the MHA Nation’s Tribal Business Council including, from left: Monica Mayer MD, MHA Nation Tribal Councilwoman; Robert White, MHA Nation Tribal Councilman; Bernie Fox, CEO of Thunder Butte Petroleum; and Fred Fox, MHA Nation Tribal Councilman.

We are dedicated to exploring and pursuing Indigenous financial and equity partnerships in the regions where we operate. With the support of a dedicated internal Indigenous strategic partnerships team, Enbridge is focused on fostering new partnerships and opportunities with Indigenous groups.

Our commitments under IRAP Refresh Pillar 3 outline the near-term steps we are taking to generate positive, mutually beneficial financial impacts and to create meaningful opportunities and partnerships with Indigenous groups and businesses.

Pillar 2: Community engagement

Pillar 4: Environmental stewardship and safety