Northern Participant Funding Program
Funding for Indigenous peoples and other Northerners to participate meaningfully in impact assessments and regulatory processes of major projects in the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories. Funding may also be provided for impact assessments in the Eeyou and Nunavik Marine Regions.
On this page
About the program
The Northern Participant Funding Program (NPFP) assists people in meaningfully participating and having their voices heard in impact assessments of major infrastructure and resource extraction projects, as well as associated regulatory processes that are likely to affect, positively or negatively, their land, lives or livelihoods.
Indigenous governments, non-governmental organizations, individuals and, in some cases, local governments can submit funding applications for such activities as:
- technical reviews of information
- research
- data collection
- community meetings
- honoraria
- collection, translation, documentation or transmission of Indigenous knowledge or Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit
- preparation of submissions and presentations
- preparation of witnesses
- retention of experts, including legal representation
Funding level
The Northern Participant Funding Program has a total of $11.7 million in grants and contribution funding available for the next three years, from 2026-2027 to 2028-2029.
A recipient can receive up to $500,000 per project, per fiscal year (April 1 to March 31), depending on their application and available funding. Multi-year contribution agreements may be possible if an impact assessment spans multiple fiscal years. Applicants may receive funding to participate in multiple impact assessments per fiscal year.
Eligible impact assessments and regulatory processes for major projects
Funding is available to support participation in impact assessments and regulatory processes (for example, water licensing), and to support non-project specific capacity building related projects.
Major projects are eligible for funding if they are:
- large
- complex
- potentially controversial
- of significant interest to local communities
The program primarily provides funding for natural resource and infrastructure projects, to date it has funded participation in impact assessments of large-scale mining, remediation and infrastructure projects.
Factors that determine project eligibility include:
- size and location
- potential for public concern, interest or opposition to the project
- potential for adverse environmental, cultural or socio-economic impacts
- potential for impacts on established or asserted rights
- use of new or untested technologies
- complexity and duration of the project
Funding approaches
Funding is provided by contribution agreement utilizing one of the following three funding approaches:
- Set contribution
- Fixed contribution
- Flexible contribution
The program will work with recipients to create a contribution agreement that best suits their needs. For details about each funding approach, visit Funding approaches.
Reporting requirements
The program requires two annual reports from recipients:
- Activity report: The purpose is for recipients to report their activities related to the funding they received, and to give feedback on the program.
- Financial report: A record of the funds and how they were spent. These can be audited or unaudited, depending on various factors.
Who can apply
- Indigenous governments and organizations
- Community groups
- Incorporated not-for-profit organizations
- Experts able to contribute specialized knowledge
- Indigenous and Northern individuals
- Other Northern residents or interested affected parties
To be eligible for funding, parties must meet at least one of the following criteria:
- have a direct and local interest in the project, such as living, owning, or using property in the project area
- have an interest in potential impacts to related claims and rights
- have community knowledge, Indigenous Knowledge, Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit or Indigenous perspective relevant to the assessment
- plan to provide expert information relevant to the anticipated environmental, cultural or socio-economic effects of the project
Under certain circumstances municipal governments may be eligible. For more information please email aidefinanciereparticipants-participantfunding@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca.
Individuals, groups or organizations that represent for-profit organizations or have a direct commercial interest in the development are not eligible for funding. Organizations that represent a level of non-Indigenous government are also generally ineligible, though an exception may be made for some municipal governments that serve a predominantly Indigenous population.
Participant funding process
When participant funding is available for an eligible project, the NPFP will:
- notify the review board, land and water, or water board responsible for assessing the project
- issue a funding call through a public notice, posted on the review board's public registry
- issue a notice on social media
- post a notice online
- contact those who appear to be potentially affected by the process or are already participating in the assessment
Organizations who have been notified of available funding are encouraged to contact the Northern Participant Funding Program inbox at aidefinanciereparticipants-participantfunding@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca to receive a funding guide and application form.
Application and review process
In most instances, applications are reviewed by an application review committee. The committee reviews funding applications, identifies groups whose contribution is valuable to the assessment of the proposed project, and recommends a level of funding required to effectively support participation.
The program aims to have decisions made within four weeks of receiving applications. Due to limited pan-territorial funding, some applicants may be denied funding or receive less than initially requested. In some cases, funding will be limited to a specific phase of the regulatory process in question (for example, pre-submission engagement, scoping), and there may or may not be funding call-outs for subsequent phases.
Initiatives funded in fiscal year 2025-2026
| Project | Territory |
|---|---|
| Grays Bay Port and Road Project | Nunavut |
| Meadowbank and Whale Tail Pit Closure | Nunavut |
| City of Iqaluit Water License Renewal Grant | Nunavut |
| Norman Wells Closure and Reclamation | Northwest Territories |
| Fortune NICO Type-A Water License Renewal | Northwest Territories |
| Keno Hill Silver District | Yukon |
| Casino Mine Panel Review | Yukon |
Initiatives funded in fiscal years 2018-2019 to 2024-2025
| Project | Territory | Fiscal year |
|---|---|---|
| Mary River Iron Ore Mine Phase 2 | Nunavut | 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022 |
| Mary River Production Increase Proposal | Nunavut | 2022-2023 |
| Mary River Sustaining Operations Proposal | Nunavut | 2023-2024 |
| Mary River Project Monitor Workshop | Nunavut | 2023-2024 |
| Whale Tail Gold Mine Pit Expansion | Nunavut | 2019-2020 |
| Meliadine Gold Mine | Nunavut | 2020-2021 |
| Meliadine Gold Mine Extension | Nunavut | 2022-2023 |
| Chidliak Diamond Mine | Nunavut | 2023-2024 |
| Back River Energy Centre | Nunavut | 2023-2024 |
| Mary River Steensby Workshop Grant | Nunavut | 2024-2025 |
| Diavik Diamond Mine | Northwest Territories | 2019-2020 |
| Pine Point Lead-Zinc Mine | Northwest Territories | 2021-2022, 2022-2023 |
| Norman Wells Waste Management Facility | Northwest Territories | 2022-2023 |
| Mackenzie Valley Highway | Northwest Territories | 2023-2024 |
| Imperial Oil Line 490 Project | Northwest Territories | 2024-2025 |
| Norman Wells Operation Project | Northwest Territories | 2024-2025 |
| Diavik Type-A Water License Renewal | Northwest Territories | 2024-2025 |
| Mackenzie Valley Highway Technical Session Grant | Northwest Territories | 2024-2025 |
| Pine Point Lead-Zinc Mine Grant | Northwest Territories | 2024-2025 |
| Faro Mine Remediation | Yukon | 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 |
| Coffee Gold Mine | Yukon | 2019-2020, 2021-2022 |
| Kudz Ze Kayah Mine | Yukon | 2019-2020 |
| Casino Mine Panel Review | Yukon | 2022-2023 |
| Mount Nansen Remediation | Yukon | 2022-2023, 2024-2025 |
| Eagle Gold Mine Extension | Yukon | 2022-2023 |
| Brewery Creek Gold Mine | Yukon | 2022-2023 |
| Theme-based Capacity Building | Pan-Territorial | 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2024-2025 |
Contact us
We are committed to improving the program and welcome input on how the program can best serve our Indigenous and Northern partners.
If you have any suggestions, please contact the NPFP team at aidefinanciereparticipants-participantfunding@rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca.