Kennedy Governance Strategies delivers a structured corporate training program on the Modern Treaty landscape in Canada. It is built for board members, executives, senior advisors, and project teams who make consequential decisions in or about Modern Treaty territories.

The curriculum is modular and tailored to each client's sector and footprint:

1. The Two Systems. The Indian Act regime and Modern Treaties are structurally different governments operating across Canada. This module covers what distinguishes them, why the distinctions matter legally and practically, and where the boundaries actually fall on the ground.

2. The Modern Treaty Map. A working geographic and political picture of where Modern Treaties are in force across Canada, what is currently in negotiation, and what each regional cluster means for projects.

3. Implementation in Practice. How Modern Treaty Nations actually exercise jurisdiction. Where the federal-provincial/territorial-Nation relationships work, where they don't, and why.

4. Consultation, Consent, and UNDRIP. What the federal UNDRIP Act and provincial/territorial implementation mean operationally for proponents. How the duty to consult interacts with Modern Treaty obligations, and how those obligations change the duty itself.

5. The Project Lifecycle. Modern Treaty considerations through every stage of a major project: early engagement, regulatory review, impact-benefit negotiation, equity participation, and ongoing operations.

6. Applied Case Studies. Drawn from the client's sector. Mining, energy and transmission, infrastructure, financial services, or defence.

• Major projects proponents in mining, energy, transmission, and infrastructure

• Banks, pension funds, and other capital providers active in Northern and Western Canada

• Engineering, legal, and professional services firms working with Indigenous clients or on projects in Modern Treaty territories

• Defence and security primes and sub-contractors engaged with Nations on infrastructure, lands, and operations

• Executive Briefing. 90 minutes, for boards and C-suite, focused on strategic and fiduciary implications.

• Half-Day Intensive. For senior leadership teams.

• Full-Day Program. For project, legal, and engagement teams.

All programs can be delivered in person or virtually.

The program is led by Jake Kennedy, founder of Kennedy Governance Strategies and former Director General at Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (CIRNAC), where his portfolio included Modern Treaty and Self-Government implementation. He continues to work at active negotiation and implementation tables across Canada with Modern Treaty Nations, Self-governing Nations, Métis Governments, and federal and provincial Crowns.

• “Most teams I have sat across from, Crown or proponent, are still working from a frame that hasn't really moved past the Indian Act. That gap costs money. It almost always surfaces late in a file, when it's hardest and most expensive to fix. We built the program to close it before it costs anyone a deal or a relationship.”

Sessions are co-delivered with Indigenous practitioners from Modern Treaty Nations where the curriculum and client context warrant it.