New documentary showcases Nisga’a Nation’s story of self-determination

NISGA’A NATION – A new documentary is highlighting the recent success of Nisga’a Nation and its journey of self-determination through the company Nations Royalty. Listed in 2024, Nations Royalty is a first of its kind mining royalty company, as it is 77% owned by Nisga’a Nation. The company was created in collaboration with the Fiore Group, and in doing so it became Canada’s largest majority-Indigenous owned public company.

“We wanted to tell the story of Nisga’a and how they moved through colonization, discrimination, all these hardships, legal landscape changes, towards building wealth and independence that they actually had before colonization,” said Nations Royalty Vice President of Corporate Development Kody Penner.

The documentary, titled “Nations Rising – a Nisga’a Story,” is free to watch, and Penner explained the creation of Nations Royalty played an enormous role towards Nisga’a working towards its goals of self-determination and financial freedom.

“Nisga’a has a vision that they they want to be a completely self-reliant nation that doesn’t rely on any government transfer payments. If the Canadian government or provincial government folded — which will never happen — they want to be completely self-sufficient and reliant. And to get there, they have a vision of having $8 billion under management, and they see Nations Royalty as a cornerstone investment to getting them to that vision,” Penner said.