A Canadian hemp processing and textile initiative announced with fanfare in 2024 has quietly collapsed just a year later, leaving behind unfulfilled promises of local job creation and Indigenous-led cultivation in eastern Alberta.
The fate of a planned decortication facility in the Town of Elk Point is unclear after a garment production arrangement with Canada’s largest uniform manufacturer, Logistik Unicorp, failed to materialize.
The formation of Askiy Hemp LP, announced in spring 2024, was supported by a CA$5 million (US$3.6 million) federal loan that has now been withdrawn, according to Canada’s Open Science and Data Platform, with the unexplained notation “Project withdrawn. Project was posted in error.” The money was through PrariesCan, Canada’s regional economic development agency for the country’s Prairie provinces.
Status unclear
Under the Askiy Hemp LP initiative, Frog Lake First Nation (FLFN) was to coordinate hemp cultivation on up to 125,000 acres, feeding a fiber processing facility designed to decorticate and cottonize 40,000 tons of hemp stalks annually. The processed fiber was intended for use by Logistik Unicorp in the production of hemp-based uniforms.
Frog Lake First Nations is a native Cree community that manages two reserves covering roughly 140 sq. miles (362 sq. kilometers). The reserves are located approximately 40 kilometers east of Elk Point.
The project was promoted as a major step forward in Indigenous economic reconciliation and rural revitalization, with more than 75 jobs promised across farming, processing, and garment manufacturing. It is unclear whether any planting of hemp or development of a factory has begun for the planned decortication facility in an existing structure in Elk Point’s Diversity Industrial Park.
FLFN did not respond to a query from HempToday regarding the status of Askiy Hemp LP.
Meanwhile, the fate of a CA$1.1 million investment announced by the province of Alberta in support of Logistik Unicorp’s role in the textile initiative is also unclear. Logistik, based in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec, holds a CA$3.7 billion, 20-year contract with the Canadian Armed Forces and supplies more than 325,000 uniformed personnel across government agencies.
2nd venture ‘going strong’
As FLFN planned an entry into industrial hemp, it first formed Askiy Asiniy LP Ltd., later changing the name to Asinikahtamwak LP Ltd. That venture, separate from the planned deal with Logistik, was formed in early 2024 as a three-way partnership among FLFN, the Town of Elk Point, and Alberta-based Natural Fibre Technology (NFT).
Asinikahtamwak LP Ltd. is still on track, according to Jesse Hahn of NFT, which holds a 39% interest in the partnership. FLFN holds 51% in that venture, with the Town of Elk Point holding the remaning 10%. Hahn said the partners are “going strong” in their joint operation, which makes pre-fabricated hempcrete construction components such as blocks, modular walls and masonry cladding.
A second entity, Nikawiy Askiy Micisowin, was to establish grain farming and hemp seed food processing via a joint venture. News reports confirm FLFN formed that venture, but there is no report of actual food processing operations or product output to date.
Alberta remains the top hemp-producing province in Canada, responsible for about 40% of national cultivation in 2024.