Chief Matthew T. Peigan

Chief Matthew T. Peigan is the youngest of five boys to the Late Ronald W. Peigan and Late Grace L. Peigan.

Chief Peigan was first elected as Chief for the Pasqua First Nation (PFN) in 1993 at which time, Mr. Peigan was the youngest serving chief in Canada at the age of 26. Matthew left the office of Chief in 2001 after serving four consecutive terms. Chief Peigan was again elected in 2011 and is currently serving a fifth consecutive term as Chief of Pasqua. He was acclaimed in the last four Pasqua elections (2015, 2017, 2019 & 2021) and re-elected in 2023 therefore carries a very strong mandate as leader for the people of Pasqua.

Chief Peigan has been very active in engaging with Industry, as well as in the National Energy Board (NEB) regulatory process. He has taken a position of support on the basis of adequate environmental, air and water protection measures as well as the process industry is developing to address these major issues.

In May, 2011 PFN represented by Chief Peigan submitted intervenor status for the Vantage Pipeline with the then National Energy Board (NEB). Chief Peigan represented PFN providing oral evidence and identifying the traditional issues impacting not only PFN but Indigenous peoples in general. PFN was the last First Nation that came to an amicable agreement with Vantage Pipelines.This agreement addressed, outside of the NEB process, safety and preservation of traditional sites identified by the projects studies.

PFN also represented by Chief Peigan filed intervenor status in September 2015 to the NEB in regards to TransCanada’s Energy East Project. Matthew submitted an oral submission that consisted of 85 minutes in length. The oral submission identified how Indigenous peoples are not consulted thru the government and industry process, why indigenous peoples should be consulted, reasoning for indigenous peoples to be consulted and impacts to Indigenous Peoples protected: cultural, spiritual, ceremonial, burial and traditional sites. Energy East Project was gradually cancelled by TransCanada Pipelines.

PFN submitted intervenor status to the NEB in September 2015 in regards to Enbridge Pipeline Inc. Line 3 Replacement Project (L3RP). Chief Peigan was actively involved throughout the NEB hearing process. This processed produced a number of filings by Chief Peigan. Such filings included: Oral Testimony, Information Requests (IR), Written Evidence and presence at NEB hearing process and final arguments submissions.

Locally, Chief Peigan has been actively involved in addressing negative impacts to lands and waters from the development of potash solution mining. This important Saskatchewan resource requires larger volumes of water to extract and separate potash for the agriculture sector. Pasqua First Nation borders the South bank of Pasqua Lake in the beautiful Qu’Appelle Valley. The extract of waters upstream at Buffalo Pound Lake thru the issuance of license to the potash industry continues to negatively impact the waters of the Qu’Appelle chain of lakes, Pasqua First Nation lands that border Pasqua Lake and the aquatic life.

Chief Peigan is a current representative on the Enbridge Pipelines: Line 3 Replacement Project’s Indigenous Advisory & Monitoring Committee (IAMC) and recently appointed to the Canadian Energy Regulators (CER) newly created Indigenous Advisory Committee (IAC).