Maybe, Arnie, I'll jump in first and you can follow up on me.
It's a pleasure to be here. My name is Heather Exner-Pirot and I serve as a research advisor for the IRN.
The answer to your question is yes. As Arnie mentioned, we've been doing our research on C-15, and we have some close relationships with some members of industry. We reached out to mining, to oil and gas, to hydroelectricity, to railroads, to some investors, to pension funds and to private funds.
We've also spoken closely with our colleagues at the Indian Resource Council, the FN LNG Alliance and the First Nations Major Projects Coalition to get a sense of the practical implications of C-15.
There is a lot of concern. You don't have to take my word for it. I encourage you to talk to investors yourselves. If our particular principle is that first nations people—indigenous people—deserve economic development and resource development is almost certainly the best opportunity to get that, then certainly we want to have an environment in Canada where resource development can happen.
In speaking to all of these people, yes, there was a sense that Canada is not a good place to invest and that there is some risk. C-15 is one more thing that adds to risk because it isn't clear what consent requires. Is it a band council resolution? Is it a referendum? Who is the representative institution? Is it hereditary chiefs? Is it the band council? Is it any member of a nation? All these things just make it riskier for capital.
We did hear that it's very difficult to invest on indigenous territory because it's very risky. I think you're all aware that indigenous peoples have been getting more involved, especially since the duty to consult decision in 2004-05. They've moved from being employees to being contractors, and to now becoming equity owners themselves. When they have been going out to try to attract equity—and that is the future—there is a risk premium for indigenous nations to attract capital, to do their own resource projects, to be their own proponents and to attract that equity.
As Arnie mentioned, talking to the B.C. Business Council to see what had been the implications of their Bill 41,they said that yes, the premium has been 1%. That's the number they said. There's a 1% risk premium attached to B.C. resource projects since that bill itself passed.
Where I'm coming from, personally and professionally, I want to see indigenous people being able to benefit fully in resource development. I understand that there's a commodities boom coming and that we're kind of coming out COVID-19. However, if we add three years of uncertainty—as we develop an action plan—to the ability of investors who want to invest in indigenous territories when indigenous people want it themselves, I think tens of billions of dollars are at stake in their development. I honestly do.