INDIGENOUS LAND, INDIGENOUS POWER, INDIGENOUS EQUITY

Sovereignty first

A Nation's right to say no — or to set the terms — is not a stage of negotiation. It is the precondition for the conversation.

Equity, not lease-only

Lease revenue is one tool. Konative's default frame is majority or near-majority equity for the host Nation, with a clear path to operational and economic control over the build.

Energy is the lever

Most Indigenous land assets carry under-utilized hydro, wind, solar, gas, or geothermal potential. The DC build doesn't come first — the energy partnership does.

Cross-border learning

Canadian First Nations and US Tribes face structurally similar opportunities and risks. Konative carries the playbook in both directions.

Largest announced Indigenous-led DC in North America. Re-uses idle power plant infrastructure. Establishes the 51% majority-equity template.

Showcase of how First Nations partnerships unlock new BC capacity that the provincial interconnection cap otherwise restricts.

Demonstrates Nations evaluating DC as long-term land + lease revenue, not just energy partnership.

Couples DC build with Navajo youth career pipeline in cybersecurity — the workforce partnership template Konative recommends to all host Nations.

Roughly 100–160 proposals are tracked across Indian Country. Quality of structure varies dramatically. Konative's view: most are not deals worth doing as currently scoped.

C$700M for AI champions / C$1B public infrastructure / C$300M SME access. C$890M Infrastructure Build Layer disbursement begins fiscal 2026–27.

Federal guarantee makes commercial debt accessible to First Nations equity participants in DC and energy infrastructure deals.

Funds tribal energy infrastructure including grid, generation, and integrated DC opportunity assessments. The DOE explicitly identifies DC partnerships as a Tribal economic vector.

DOE Loan Programs Office Tribal Energy Financing Program guarantees commercial debt for Tribal-owned energy + infrastructure (including DC-supporting power).

Not a fund — but the coalition that has structured most of the major Indigenous-equity infra deals in Canada (LNG Canada, Coastal GasLink, etc.). Critical advisory partner for any major DC deal.

Resistance is real and reasonable

Multiple tribal communities have moratoriums or active opposition to DC development citing water use, sacred sites, sovereignty, and historical extraction patterns. A "yes" from a council is not the same as a "yes" from the community. Konative does not accept engagements where community consent has not been actively built.

Water sovereignty is non-negotiable

In water-stressed regions (Navajo, Hopi, Pueblo lands), DC water consumption is the dominant community concern. Closed-loop liquid cooling and air cooling designs are the only viable approaches. Evaporative cooling on tribal land is, in our view, off the table.

Data sovereignty matters as much as land sovereignty

Hosting a hyperscaler workload doesn't mean a Nation has access to or control over the data on it. Structuring data sovereignty provisions — including Tribal data jurisdiction, governance, and audit rights — is a parallel track to physical infrastructure.

Promised jobs often don't materialize

A 500 MW DC creates ~50–150 long-term jobs. That's real, but smaller than the 1,000+ figures sometimes pitched. Workforce commitments must be in writing, with measurable milestones, and the host Nation's training infrastructure must be funded as part of the deal — not as a downstream "phase 2."