When I talk about what happened in Kitimat here, we're really talking about what happened in the last 12 years. That's a really short, condensed time frame to change the mentality and approach of first nations towards major project development. We've evolved. We've evolved so quickly. The new leaders coming up are more educated. They can read. They can write. They've been to business school. They're seeing the world in a different light.
Now that we've caught up with the rest of B.C. and Canada, B.C. and Canada seem to be going the opposite way. Members of first nations are now saying, “I'm getting very good benefits from this project. I'm getting a job. I'm getting revenues. I'm getting training. Now, what can I do next?”
A lot of first nations in northwest B.C. see the export of energy as the next big step. In fact, there's a group down in the Lower Mainland that's actually negotiating equity in the Kinder Morgan project. The Nisga'a Treaty, the northwest treaty in my region...they don't want to see that tanker ban. Lax Kw'alaams were out long ago thinking they didn't want to see the tanker ban. They see that as the next step.
The evolvement has happened so quickly. I think these first nations leaders are expecting more from their governments in terms of what kind of policy and legislation is coming down that affects their economic development dreams.