... B.C. First Nations Leadership Council issued a report with 25 recommendations for implementing Indigenous authority over mining that wouldn’t entirely supplant B.C.’s existing regulatory regime but would insert First Nations consent as a requirement in the steps along the path of finding and opening new mines.

... [Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs] said First Nations have had “significant engagement” with the province on mining reform that has “fallen on deaf ears,” and [the] report was intended to put some pressure on government to speed things up.

... Mining is a key private-sector employer for many Indigenous Nations, which aren’t opposed to mining itself, said Terry Teegee, regional chief for the B.C. Assembly of First Nations.

“We recognize the potential for economic benefits in jobs and revenue for our own people and the province as a whole,” Teegee said in a written statement.

... “We live in an era of consent-based decision-making, especially now that the (UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) is provincial and federal law,” Teegee said. “So we should be acting upon the ability of free, prior and informed consent.”

... Most of B.C.’s existing mines already have either impact-benefit agreements or partnerships with the First Nations whose territory they operate, said Michael Goehring, CEO of the Mining Association of B.C.

... “I think today’s report signals concern from the Indigenous organizations involved and we all need to listen,” Goehring said. “You won’t see a new mine built in British Columbia without some form of strategic engagement (or) partnership agreements in place with the local First Nation or Nations upon whose lands that mine is sited.”