Justin P. Martin

Justin P. Martin is L'nu (Mi'kmaq) and a member of Millbrook First Nation. He is CEO and Co-Founder of First Spear Group, an "Indigenous Economic Development General Contractor" serving First Nation governments, economic development corporations and industry partners across Atlantic Canada, and Director of Fisheries for Millbrook First Nation, where he leads one of the Nation's primary economic assets and its working relationship with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Justin has spent two decades in Indigenous governance, treaty rights implementation, consulations, negotiations and fisheries management across Mi'kma'ki. For seven of those years he was Fisheries Manager with the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi'kmaw Chiefs (Kwilmu'kw Maw-klusuaqn), leading and developing rights-based fisheries across eight Mi'kmaw First Nations under the treaty right affirmed in R. v. Marshall, carrying Crown negotiations on Marshall and Sparrow rights, and briefing the Assembly of Chiefs throughout his tenure.

Much of that work was done on the ground: building consensus among harvesters, community members and leadership across multiple Nations, leading community engagement and consultation so that decisions reached leadership with a mandate behind them, and managing crisis response through fisheries disputes. It also taught him, from inside First Nation administrations, how often the opportunities in front of a community outrun the staff available to pursue them. Closing that gap through advisory support is the work First Spear Group was founded to do.

As Director of Indigenous Relations at JPOM Canada, he advises defence and aerospace companies on Industrial and Technological Benefits obligations, Indigenous Participation Plans and the federal five percent Indigenous procurement target, and has authored Indigenous Participation Plan strategies for major federal defence procurements.

Justin brings to the Board direct experience in Atlantic treaty rights implementation, Indigenous ownership and federal Indigenous procurement, areas at the centre of the National Indigenous Economic Strategy the Board champions.

Justin was appointed to the National Indigenous Economic Development Board in 2026, providing advice and guidance to the federal government on issues related to Indigenous economic policies and programming.