Shift report says all 11 pension managers reviewed fall short on Indigenous rights policy
None of the 11 large Canadian pension managers reviewed in a new report has a publicly disclosed investment policy aligned with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) or its core principle of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).
Shift: Action for Pension Wealth and Planet Health said in its August 2026 report, Indigenous Rights and Canadian Pension Funds, that the gap leaves beneficiaries' retirement savings exposed to financial, legal, and reputational risks.
The federal government is pressing pension funds to invest in so-called "major projects," the report said.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, said embedding "free, prior and informed consent into investment decisions is fundamental to responsible investment," in Shift's release accompanying the report.
Phillip called on the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and other investors to show that free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) is fully integrated into their strategy.
Shift assessed reconciliation action plans, proxy voting guidelines, and investment policies as of July 31, finding that every manager reviewed, including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a Crown corporation, fell short on investment policy.
The report found that only OPSEU Pension Trust (OPTrust) and the University Pension Plan have proxy voting guidelines it assessed as publicly disclosed and aligned.
Guidelines at British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS), and PSP Investments were flagged as not comprehensive.
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) became the first major Canadian pension fund to release an Indigenous Action Plan, in November 2025, though Shift notes that document covers internal policies and processes rather than investment policy or proxy voting guidance.
OMERS and OPTrust are developing reconciliation action plans, the report states, and the Investment Management Corporation of Ontario has referred to an "Indigenous Rights strategy" in its 2025 annual report without publishing details.
Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) omits Indigenous rights from its 2024 and 2025 annual reports, current proxy voting guidelines, and other investment policies.
At least four managers have partnered with First Nations groups on fossil fuel infrastructure.
AIMCo holds an 85 percent stake in the Northern Courier Pipeline, which carries bitumen and diluent, and a partnership of First Nations, Métis Nations, and Suncor took a 15 percent equity interest through the Astisiy Limited Partnership in 2021.
CPPIB-owned Wolf Midstream sold a 43 percent interest in the Access NGL Pipeline System to five Alberta-based First Nations and Métis Settlements in 2023.
BCI acted as lead investor in 2025 in support of 38 First Nations acquiring a 12.5 percent equity stake in a gas pipeline system through the Stonlasec8 Indigenous Alliance Limited Partnership's $736m bond issuance.
OPTrust portfolio company Kineticor owns the Cascade gas plant alongside six First Nations and a consortium of infrastructure investors.
Four managers have backed climate solutions alongside First Nations groups, including La Caisse's February 2025 renewable energy partnership with the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, OPTrust's stakes in the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation's Sen̓áḵw net-zero development, and PSP portfolio company FirstLight's 57-megawatt solar project with the Lac Des Mille Lacs First Nation.
Equity participation does not on its own resolve rights questions, Shift argued, pointing to proposed projects such as LNG Canada Phase 2 and a West Coast oil pipeline that may carry elements of "economic reconciliation" without FPIC from all impacted nations.
OTPP president and chief executive Jo Taylor declined to commit to investing only in companies that respect FPIC when a beneficiary asked at the fund's April 2026 annual meeting, the report recounts.
Taylor told the meeting he "would be slightly reticent to ever say we will only do something with certain criteria," calling that "a significant restriction" on the fund's wider investment activities.
"It benefits all of us, now and in the future, if our pension funds have policies explaining how Indigenous rights are upheld by their investment and stewardship decisions," Teri Burgess, a teacher and member of the Canada Pension Plan, OTPP, and the BC Teachers' Pension Plan, said in Shift's release.
Pension funds should refuse to back projects that cannot demonstrate the free, prior and informed consent of all impacted Indigenous communities, Shift recommended, and should assess investments from both a rights-based and a climate-centred perspective.
