Williams Treaties First Nations back Darlington nuclear project with CAD700 million stake

The Williams Treaties First Nations have committed CAD700 million to Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington New Nuclear Project, taking a direct ownership stake in a first-of-its-kind SMR build at Darlington. Backed by the largest Indigenous loan guarantee ever issued in Canada, the deal gives the seven communities a place in the project’s economics and governance, not just a consultative role.

The financing rests on a 50-50 loan-guarantee partnership between the Canada Indigenous Loan Guarantee Corporation and Ontario’s Indigenous Opportunities Financing Program, which is administered by the Building Ontario Fund. That program has been operating since 2009 and is the longest-running program of its kind in Canada.

The treaty base dates to the 1923 Williams Treaties, which covered land in south-central Ontario around Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe. Chiefs from the group spent years on discussion, analysis, negotiation and planning before moving ahead with the investment, and Mississaugas of Scugog Island Chief Kelly LaRocca linked the deal to the 2018 land-rights settlement with Ottawa and Ontario that helped clear the way.

Under the agreement, the First Nations will lend money to Darlington New Nuclear Project LP for construction of the first of four BWRX-300 units, with the loan designed to convert into equity once all four units are complete. The Darlington project includes design, licensing, site preparation, construction and commissioning of four BWRX-300 small modular reactors. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued a construction licence for the first reactor in April 2025, and Ontario approved construction in May 2025.

Ontario Power Generation and GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy say Darlington is the first commercial grid-scale SMR in the Western world, with the first unit targeted for completion by the end of the decade. The project was referred to Canada’s Major Projects Office in September 2025, and in October 2025 the Canada Growth Fund and Building Ontario Fund announced up to CAD3 billion in combined equity financing. Ontario has said the four SMRs could add about CAD500 million a year to the Canadian supply chain and contribute CAD38.5 billion to GDP over 65 years.