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50 BCBusiness december 2014 but that's one plot of land claimed by one of B.C.'s 198 First Nations. Still, Tsilhqot'in Nation v. British Colum- bia sets a powerful precedent for aboriginal groups trying to wield more influence in future land-use decisions. Industry and the B.C. government now face a stark choice: negotiate with First Nations to find common ground on resource projects or endure years of costly litigation that will likely end with similar results as Tsilhqot'in. The nightmare version of B.C.'s gas dream would see every wellhead and every stretch of every pipeline challenged for decades in the courts. LESS THAN TWO WEEKS after Martin Louie's lakeside ceremony, the chief and leaders from the rest of B.C.'s First Nations gather for an unprecedented meeting at the Fair- mont Hotel Vancouver. Premier Christy Clark, her cabinet and the govern- ment's top deputy ministers have all come here to promise a new relation- ship with B.C.'s aboriginal communi- ties. It is the first time the government's entire senior leadership has sat down with all of the province's First Nations. The government's lawyers had, up until just a few months prior, fought the Tsilhqot'in in Canada's top court, but today, in the hotel's grand ballroom, Clark promises a different course. "That decision set out a fork in the road and as leaders we have a deci- sion to make," says the premier as the crowd nibbles on muffins and steel-cut oatmeal. "We can decide to ignore it, encourage more litigation, put economic development and all of our futures in peril, or we can take it. We can take that fork in the road and begin a journey down a new road." Clark proclaims the decision a vic- tory for all British Columbians, not just First Nations or the Tsilhqot'in. "All of British Columbia can benefit from this new opportunity," she says, thanking Tsilhqot'in leaders for pursuing the case for so long. Her talk is welcomed by polite applause but does little to placate First Nations leaders who had pushed for the government to apply the principles of the Tsilhqot'in decision province- wide. "All we heard was public platitudes," says Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs afterwards. "It's going to take more than public platitudes to achieve economic certainty in the province of British Columbia. "I believe we are going to have to wallpaper this province with lawsuits before the government will wake up to this new reality that is represented by the Supreme Court decision," he continues. "I believe we're looking towards a very litigious future. There will be more lawsuits. The province and Canada will continue to lose." But what if Clark and her govern- ment decide to walk the walk, recon- cile with B.C.'s First Nations and affirm aboriginal title rights throughout the province? What does aboriginal title mean for the province's natural gas ambitions and for other parts of the resource sector? There's a legal side of the answer and a practical one. First of all, it's important to rec- ognize that while title is a powerful property right, it does not strip govern- ment of its powers. The courts have ruled that government and industry must consult with and grant accommo- dation to titleholders when developing resources—but that doesn't necessarily mean getting consent. "There is a power of expropriation in Canada," says Gordon Christie, an aboriginal law professor at UBC's law school. "It's used all the time for non- aboriginal people and their property interests. People lose their land to airports and who knows what else. But the fact is that if communities could get title shown, then they would have a very powerful legal tool to use to try and stop the pipeline from passing through their territory." Title can be very difficult, costly and time-consuming to have recognized. A First Nation must show evidence of how it has historically used lands being claimed, in court proceedings that could stretch all the way to Canada's top court. "You can assert title, but asserting title is not the same thing as having title," says Christie. Much of the Tsilhqot'in case was consumed by witnesses trying to prove that Tsilhqot'in people had long occupied the land in question. "There were 29 Tsilhqot'in witnesses, mostly elders," says Grand Chief Edward John of the First Nations Summit, an umbrella group representing 60 First Nations involved in land title claims. "Chief Roger William alone was on the witness stand for 46 days. Six hundred and four exhibits containing hundreds of thousands of pages of documents were submitted." Potentially, each individual First Nation along each pipeline's route could be forced to prove its title claims in the same manner—in court appeal after court appeal. In the Tsilhqot'in ruling, however, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin laid out a speedier path forward: "Governments and individu- als proposing to use or exploit land, whether before or after a declaration of Aboriginal title, can avoid a charge of " We are going to have to wallpaper this province with lawsuits before the government will wake up to this new reality that is represented by the Supreme Court decision" —Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs 29% Of British Columbians say natural resources are the most important component of their province's economy THE WEST SpEAKS OUT