Five First Nations communities now hold an economic interest in a pipeline moving 2.1 billion cubic feet of Canadian gas per day. TC Energy has closed the first of two planned indigenous investment agreements covering the Coastal GasLink line in British Columbia, the company announced.

The deal transfers an interest in the entity holding TC Energy's limited partner position in CGL to FN CGL Pipeline Limited Partnership, an indigenous-led vehicle the participating Nations spent several years building for this purpose. The structure gives the communities sustained, foreseeable financial returns from an operating export asset rather than a one-time payment.

The participants are the Haisla Nation, Halfway River First Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, Saulteau First Nations and West Moberly First Nations. All five sit along or near the pipeline corridor.

What does the deal actually cover?

The transaction covers equity, not operatorship. TC Energy continues to operate and co-own the pipeline. The Nations obtain a share of cash flow from the limited partner position — the revenue-generating side of the structure.

TC Energy framed the closing as the first step. The company said the transaction is "the first of two indigenous investment deals planned around CGL."

The second transaction would widen the shareholder base considerably. It is expected to include additional First Nations and is targeted for completion in the fourth quarter of 2026.

In plain terms: five communities are in, more are queued, and the paperwork for round two has a deadline.

Why the asset is worth holding

Coastal GasLink runs 670 km from Dawson Creek to the LNG Canada liquefaction facility at Kitimat in northern BC. It feeds roughly 2.1 billion cubic feet per day of Canadian gas into a plant that turns it into LNG for international markets.

That volume is set to grow, and materially. TC Energy confirmed in September 2026 that CGL Phase 2 would proceed, after LNG Canada and its joint venture participants reached a positive final investment decision on expanding the Kitimat facility.

The expansion follows commercial agreements signed between CGL and LNG Canada in March 2026 for the project's second development phase. LNG Canada is a partnership of Shell, Petronas, PetroChina, Mitsubishi and Korea Gas Corporation.

Phase 2 will add new compressor stations and upgrade existing infrastructure along the corridor. The result: capacity nearly doubles.

For the five Nations, the timing matters. They bought into an asset at 2.1 bcfd that is sanctioned to approach twice that throughput. Equity that scales with Phase 2 is worth more than equity that does not.

Who advised whom

The advisory roster signals how heavily both sides lawyered the structure.

• RBC Capital Markets — financial adviser to TC Energy
• Blake, Cassels & Graydon — legal counsel to TC Energy
• Indigenous Wealth Finance Group and PNL Consulting — business and financial advisers to the partnership
• Cassels Brock & Blackwell — legal counsel to the partnership

No transaction value was disclosed. TC Energy did not state the size of the interest transferred.

What to watch

Three items will define the next 24 months.

First, the second closing. The Q4 2026 target carries a specific promise: additional First Nations enter the ownership structure. A slip past that quarter would test the momentum of the indigenous-equity model in Canadian midstream.

Second, Phase 2 execution. New compressor stations and corridor upgrades must convert a sanctioned FID into actual incremental throughput. The Nations' returns scale with delivery, not with the press release.

Third, LNG Canada's expansion schedule at Kitimat. The pipeline expansion exists to serve it; the two projects are mechanically linked. One cannot run ahead of the other.

The precedent is the story here. Indigenous communities holding limited partner equity in a major export pipeline is not the standard Canadian midstream structure. It may become more standard.

By Daniel Okafor.