Like many organizations, the Canadian Aboriginal Minerals Association (CAMA) was hit hard by the global COVID-19 pandemic. But now, after a six-year pause—and with a surging wave of interest in critical minerals development—CAMA was relaunched in March 2026.

Under newly appointed president Kaella-Marie Earle, the organization is aiming to ensure Indigenous communities are active decision makers in the country’s mining future.

“It’s a great time for CAMA to be able to serve everyone and make sure that throughout this surge of new infrastructure and new critical minerals exploration that we do it in a way that’s [positive], and that we learn from the past,” said Earle.

Originally founded in 1992, CAMA relaunched at the 2026 PDAC Convention. Earle, a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Aroland First Nation in Ontario, first joined the organization about a decade ago as a youth delegate and has since worked across the mining and energy sectors, including as a professional engineer with Enbridge and co-chair of the Indigenous Inclusion Committee for the Young Pipeliners Association of Canada.

Earle said Indigenous communities across Canada began asking when CAMA would return as demand for critical minerals development accelerated in recent years. She noted that while CAMA was originally created to help Indigenous communities and the mining industry navigate possible conflict, the relaunched organization will focus more heavily on Indigenous-led oversight, expanding technical capacity and creating long-term economic opportunities rooted in community priorities.

She added that CAMA also plans to develop accessible resources that communities can continue using after its annual national gathering is reinstated in Sudbury, Ontario, this November, including a graphic report and graphic novel. Since its relaunch, CAMA has secured more than $100,000 in sponsorship funding.

Earle currently serves as vice-chairperson of the Indigenous Advisory Committee at the Canada Energy Regulator, where she works with an executive team to embed the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) into energy regulation in Canada. Concurrently, she works for Natural Resources Canada as a member of the Sustainable Jobs Partnership council.

Earle’s perspective on mining and resource development was shaped in part by her time working in oil and gas, which challenged many of the assumptions she held before entering the industry, she said. While she expected to encounter people who did not care about Indigenous communities or the environment, she said the experience instead showed her there are opportunities for industry and Indigenous Peoples to work together in a positive way.

Earle has also been a part-time engineering professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, since 2025. Her course covers mining-related law, including treaties, Indigenous human rights and other legal frameworks relevant to engineering practice, grounding students in Indigenous legal principles that can shape mine design and decision-making. Students examine Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act, UNDRIP and humanitarian issues affecting Indigenous communities. The course culminates in a capstone-style project in which students develop solutions to humanitarian challenges experienced by First Nations communities in Canada.

“It’s unbelievable what young people are able to do if you give them an opportunity,” she said. “In future, I’d really like to make this into a practical forum where policymakers and industry professionals can come in and listen to them, because they really should hear these [solutions].”