Open for bioenergy business? Perspectives from Indigenous business leaders on biomass development potential in Canada

•Indigenous business leaders hold variable levels of familiarity with bioenergy.•There is desire to learn about and provide leadership for initiatives in bioenergy.•On-reserve entrepreneurs are disadvantaged by banking system barriers.•There is openness to partnerships to enable projects and reduce risk for partners. Canada is one of the world's top five energy producers and, within Canada's energy sector, the bioenergy economy is rapidly expanding. This research was conducted to identify perceived risks, barriers, benefits, and opportunities relating to the development of biomass energy by Indigenous business leaders and/or their communities. Eighteen Indigenous business leaders from forestry, energy, and allied natural resource sectors were interviewed to understand their perspectives on bioenergy. Results included that views on bioenergy feasibility differed between business leaders in northern versus southern Canada. There was no agreement among business leaders as to risks and benefits (neutral, positive, negative) for Indigenous businesses and communities engaging in bioenergy initiatives. Many of the benefits of bioenergy were related by participants to opportunities for increasing community self-reliance and increasing connectedness to Canadian mainstream economic and governance systems. Indigenous-led policy interventions are especially important in new industries like bioenergy in the boreal where Indigenous traditional territories, communities and businesses intersect and thus are likely to be impacted by new developments and partnerships.