The CEO of the Mining Association of BC says the province’s move to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) will help create certainty for investors in the sector.

Speaking on NL Newsday, Michael Goehring though said it would depend on the BC government properly implementing all of those UN recommendations.

“Many of our members through various agreements and partnerships with Indigenous nations across BC are already advancing economic reconciliation and many of those agreements and partnerships are well aligned with the principles of UNDRIP,” he said.

“We’re actually as an industry cautiously optimistic.”

He says the Mining Association wants to be at the table when the government and Indigenous communities meet to go over what the province’s UNDRIP legislation could look like to share best practices on what’s been working already in B.C..

“It’s going to take a lot of work. There will be some speed bumps,” he added. “I think government is very much going to have to work closely with Indigenous leadership in the province.”

Goehring adds he believes that if properly implemented, this new UNDRIP legislation will also advance reconciliation with Indigenous communities across the province.

Last month, the BC Government announced plans to become the first province to legally enshrine ‘minimum standards’ of Indigenous rights, when it introduced the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act in the legislature.