Building relationships with Indigenous Nations and communities

One way we engage with Indigenous communities is through our Corporate Citizenship Program (CCP), which undertakes grass roots community initiatives/partnerships with organizations located close to our generating facilities. CCP funding focus areas include: education, environment and community initiatives.

Since 2006, OPG has supported Frontier College and the Lt. Governor’s Indigenous Youth Summer Reading Camp Program.

This provincial program helps build reading and computer literacy skills of youth/elementary students living in remote First Nations. The camp curriculum includes reading, writing and computer skill development, storytelling, music, and arts and crafts. The program incorporates traditional culture and learning.

As an extension of our support of the summer reading camp program, OPG staff host “Reading is Cool” events each summer, where OPG employees attend camp for a day and engage in reading, activities and mentoring with the participating campers.

OPG has supported the Little Native Hockey League Tournament (Little NHL) since 2009.

Since the tourney’s inaugural puck drop in the town of Espanola in 1971, the Little NHL event, has grown by leaps and bounds. Today, the event attracts more than 200 teams and 3,000 players, a far cry from the 17 teams that played in the first tournament.

Our support of this initiative highlights the important role sport plays in the development of youth by promoting physical fitness, self-confidence, respect, skill development, teamwork and sportsmanship.

Tournament sponsorship helps demonstrate OPG’s support of its First Nation partner communities, their tradition of hockey, and the development of Indigenous youth through sport.

Elephant Thoughts celebrates Indigenous culture while integrating both traditional and contemporary knowledge. It hosts science camps in communities across Canada, including Northern Ontario, with the ultimate goal of empowering students and building science literacy.

Spearheaded by the Friends of Laura Secord community group, the First Nations Peace Monument was unveiled on Oct. 7, 2017, the 254th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which formed the basis of land claims of Indigenous peoples in Canada. The monument stands as a symbol of reconciliation and recognition of the important role First Nations played, and continue to play, in Canada’s history.