CNSC 2025 Listening Tour: What We Learned

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is committed to strengthening relationships with Indigenous Nations, communities and organizations and to advancing reconciliation. One recent example of our ongoing commitment to engagement and collaboration is our listening tour in 2025.

How it started

Building trust and supporting reconciliation with Indigenous Nations and communities is one of our top priorities. To support this, we wanted to hear directly from people about their experiences and ideas. We were looking for feedback on policy issues – not just specific projects – from Nations, communities and organizations who have worked with us. To do this, we held a listening tour over 5 months, from May to September 2025.

Who we learned from

We were honoured to learn from a wide range of people, including Elders, community members, land users, coordinators, staff members, legal counsel, and leadership. In total, we met with 19 Indigenous Nations, communities and organizations across Canada, who brought forward valuable insights and spoke about their experiences with the CNSC.

Themes that surfaced and how we organized feedback

Participants discussed a range of experiences at the sessions, touching on different aspects of CNSC policy, procedures and processes. Some spoke in depth about subjects that included CNSC regulatory documents, while others were less familiar with the CNSC, including its specific regulatory role in the nuclear industry.

To organize what we learned, we grouped the feedback into 2 main categories: discussion guide topics and cross-cutting themes.

The discussion guide topics included:

• consultation and engagement
• duty to consult, United Nations Declaration, and free, prior and informed consent
• the CNSC’s regulatory framework
• the Registry, Commission proceedings and processes

Meanwhile, the cross-cutting insights related to:

• general communication
• cumulative effects
• legacy issues
• Indigenous world views
• Indigenous knowledge, cultural awareness, and sharing of values

To ensure Indigenous voices from the tour are authentically represented, the report includes direct quotations from participants.

Ongoing dialogue

In hearing from participants, we learned about positive experiences, which included:

• interactions with our funding programs
• responsiveness of our staff
• appreciation for recent changes in the physical layout of Commission hearings
• recognition for the shared commitment to the protection of people and the environment

We also learned about areas for improvement, including the need for:

• strengthened cultural awareness
• more transparent, culturally respectful and responsive engagement 

Initiatives like the listening tour help guide improvements to our consultation and engagement practices and policies. They also inform our implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act and processes related to free, prior and informed consent, while driving continual improvements to internal processes.

As this work progresses, we will continue to engage with participants to discuss next steps in developing an action plan to make policies, programs, and approaches responsive, transparent and aligned with Indigenous rights and perspectives.

We are already moving ahead with our action plan. This includes improving our internal tools so our work with Indigenous Nations, communities and organizations remains consistent, respectful and well-informed. We’re also expanding the practice of having consistent relationship leads who engage with Nations, including participation in community events and activities, to strengthen connections and ensure meaningful, community-centered dialogue. 

With the view of continuing to make progress on our commitment to reconciliation, our staff are also actively advancing their Indigenous cultural competency and strengthening their role in reconciliation through ongoing learning and reflection – a responsibility that is reflected at all levels of our organization, including within executive performance management expectations.

Read the full report

We invite you to learn more and read direct quotations from participants in our What We Learned Report (PDF, 5.5MB).