The North is a place of big ideas. So it’s fitting that The Walrus Talks: North of Now is hosting a panel on Nov. 17 to talk about Canada’s future and the potential rooted there. But where is Edmonton in all of it? Edify sat down with panelist Kluane Adamek, Indigenous Advisory Council to Canada’s major projects office and former Yukon regional chief in the Assembly of First Nations to ask her about Edmonton’s key roles.
“Edmonton’s interesting because it has been a gateway to the North. When I talk about a gateway, I mean a partnership that carries weight both ways,” she says. Once a staging ground for Klondike gold seekers, Edmonton is today a door through which supplies, health care, research, finance and engineering pass. Adamek urges a shift from a transactional model to a genuine two-way partnership.
She says there is further opportunity for Edmonton in the provision of professional and institutional support: Northerners look to Edmonton and Alberta for finance, engineering, logistics research, training and institutional resources, such as universities, finance and industry. “And Edmonton can be a convenor, an amplifier — a facilitator. It has the institutions that can carry Northern ideas.” Edmonton has a natural role that will benefit the city and the North by supporting the procurement and infrastructure needed for major Northern projects.
A decade ago, indigenous involvement meant “carving out space” at decision-making tables, Adamek says. By 2026, it means owning the tables. She mentions several examples of the shift, including initiatives like the Athabasca Indigenous Investments buying a stake in Enbridge pipelines and Enoch Cree Nation’s major equity stake in the Cascade Power Project as demonstrative of how true equity ownership stabilizes projects and generates long-term economic independence.
Further she says, doing business with First Nations brings stability. “Governments change, ministers can get shuffled, companies can come and go but Indigenous nations remain. That makes us the most stable long-term partners that you could have.”
“Reconciliation can’t be separate from conversations about land ownership about economic development. It’s the foundation,” she says. “It’s about sharing what is possible when Northerners lead, own and benefit as partners from the start and not being afterthoughts brought in at the last moment.”
Adamek calls for legislated Indigenous procurement standards — similar to Alaskan programs that ensure nations share in economic gains, rather than just project risks. She says that doing it right leads to efficiency. “Speed should come from being ready, not from skipping steps.”
Adamek’s core message to leaders, investors and Edmontonians is distilled into a simple invitation: “Come north, listen first and build with us.”
The Walrus Talks event is part of MacEwan’s Chancellor Speaker Series, hosted by university Chancellor Gary Mar. Other speakers include Canadian Armed Forces General Jennie Carignan, journalist Whit Fraser, president and CEO of Arctic360 Jessica Shadian and president and CEO of Des Nedhe Group Sean Willy.
The Walrus Talks North of Now
Downtown | Ford Hall in Rogers Place 10220 104 Ave NW, Edmonton | November 17, 2026 at 7 p.m. | thewalrus.ca/the-walrus-talks-north-of-now
