A large trade delegation headed by Energy for a Secure Future is going to Tokyo this week to meet politicians and businesspeople to talk shop with potential customers for Canadian energy.

The timing was a complete coincidence given the threat of U.S. tariffs on Canadian products including energy, with Shannon Joseph, Energy for a Secure Future’s chair, saying the trip had been in the works for months.

The Canadians will be there from Jan. 30 to Feb. 6.

“It’s just happened to coincide now with this very blurry moment,” said Joseph in an interview with DOB Energy.

“We’re hoping to let the Japanese energy world know that Canada is ready to deliver. We’re about to have our first shipments from LNG Canada.”

The delegation will tour the LNG intake facility belonging to JERA Co., Inc., Japan’s largest power generation company, and its Futtsu Thermal Power Station near Tokyo.

Meetings are set up with organizations such as The Japan Gas Association, the Clean Fuel Ammonia Association, and the energy committee of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Japan.

The delegation is also hosting a Canada-Japan Energy Partnership Forum at the Canadian Embassy on Feb. 5, with over 115 currently registered to attend.

“The embassy’s commercial minister will speak, and after we’re going to have a panel with three of the First Nations leaders who are part of our group,” Joseph said.

“It will highlight the positive role and partnerships that are going on between Indigenous peoples and communities and industry, whether it's equity, whether it’s a regulatory role, and their readiness as Indigenous peoples to get to know energy partners in the rest of the world and help deliver for them.

“And I don’t think it’s a message Japan's ever heard before.”

Joining Joseph on the delegation is Karen Ogen, CEO of the First Nations LNG Alliance, Sharleen Gale, chair of the First Nations Major Projects Coalition, Charlotte Raggett, president of Rockies LNG Partners, and Shannon Watt, president and CEO of the Canadian Propane Association.

Also attending is the Indian Resource Council and Alberta Indigenous Opportunities Corporation (AIOC).

Alberta’s minister of environment and protected areas, Rebecca Schulz, is in Japan at the same time and plans to be at several meetings with the delegation, as well as speaking at the forum, said Joseph. She will be joined by a counterpart from METI, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.

How tariffs threat changed the delegation

Asked if interest in the delegation changed after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to bring in a 25 per cent tariff on Feb. 1, Joseph said there was a change in focus about what the trip could mean.

“Why is it significant to have industry and Indigenous people going together to talk to our potential customers?” she said.

“I think the stronger Canada is in terms of trading with the world and energy, the better our relationship will be in the United States because we’ll strengthen our hand and our own rights as an energy trader.

“To the extent that Canada does more in the world in terms of getting our energy out there, we help our friends around the world be secure, and that is good for all of our allies, including the U.S.”

Shannon said she thought the delegation was “a little ahead of the curve.”

“I hope it will inspire more discussion and more collaboration, really continuing to advance the opportunities for Canada,” she said.