Government of Canada awards Alaska Highway contract to Indigenous-owned business partnership

FORT ST. JOHN. B.C.— The Government of Canada has awarded a $14.6 million design-build contract to an Indigenous-owned business partnership to rehabilitate the Alaska Highway and protect it from climate-related damage. 

According to a news release by Public Services and Procurement Canada on May 13th, the Minister of Government Transformation, Joël Lightbound, Public Works and Procurement, and Quebec Lieutenant, announced the Government of Canada had awarded the contract to Top Notch Oilfield Contracting Limited, a company owned by a member of the Blueberry First Nation, and Enviro-Ex Contracting Limited. 

This contract supports Indigenous economic leadership and strengthens local capacity through federal procurement, the release added. 

The project will relocate 2.3 kilometres of the Alaska Highway at the 780-kilometre mark, which is beyond an area of the Liard River shoreline expected to erode over the next century, the release said. 

The work will include land and river studies, environmental reviews, and detailed design, with construction scheduled to start in the summer of 2026. 

The release said this competitive process was through a Limited Indigenous Offering procurement process and was open to Indigenous businesses led by members of the eight First Nations, whose traditional territories are located along the parts of the highway maintained by the Public Service and Procurement Canada (PSPC). 

This procurement creates direct economic opportunities for these communities and contributes to the government’s Indigenous procurement targets, the release explained. 

The approach supports PSPC’s commitment to reconciliation and inclusive growth by enabling significant Indigenous participation in the project’s design and construction phases.