Coast Salish Traditional Territory/Vancouver, BC — The First Nations Summit calls on the provincial government to support First Nations working to improve their often contentious relationship with the mining sector. This request is consistent with the government’s own recent efforts to fund BC mining industry associations.
This week, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources provided $100,000 to the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia and the Mining Association of British Columbia, respectively, to support relationship building between their sector and First Nations.
“The government’s support to the mining sector shows it has the same goal as First Nations, to improve relations all around. We applaud the provincial government’s effort to encourage the mining industry to work with us, and now we expect this kind of support will be afforded to First Nations to allow us to engage with the industry in turn,” said Dave Porter, a member of the political executive of the First Nations Summit.