Prince George, B.C.-  Premier Christy Clark is in Asia   this week for a series of meetings on LNG, but she  made a stop in Fort Nelson before heading overseas.

The Premier, along with  Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister, John Rustad,  went to Fort Nelson to meet with Fort Nelson First Nation Chief Sharleen Gale. It was Chief Gale who invited the Premier and Rustad to meet and discuss the Province’s LNG strategy and implementation.

You may recall that recently, provincial officials were evicted from an LNG summit in Fort Nelson  because of  an Order in Council that changed the rules about shale gas plants.  The OIC  eliminated the need for environmental assessments for many of the  gas plants.  Chief Gale stood at the summit, raised a single eagle feather,  turned to project proponents and said ““We are the governments of our territories.  We are the ones that make the decisions on our lands.  We are the ones that are enforcing our rights.  Nobody else makes decisions for us. This is what you need to bring back to your CEOs, to your boardrooms, to the people you work with.”

Within hours of the provincial reps being booted from the summit, the Order in Council was withdrawn.

The Premier’s meeting with the Ft. Nelson First Nation lasted about an hour and a half covering issues of concern to the Fort Nelson First Nation, including land stewardship, protection of culture and traditions, and economic development.

Chief Gale said she appreciated the Premier coming to the community to address the concerns “We support the Province's goal of a new LNG industry, but it must be done right -environmentally, culturally and economically.”

But with the initial OIC a major misstep, the question put to John Rustad is, how is the Provincial Government going to build trust with the Fort Nelson First Nation?  Rustad says the Province will be engaging with the Ft. Nelson First Nation on a Government to Government basis “We are shaping some definitions on what we want to see as part of that. We’re looking at the economic benefit agreement that we have with them, it needs to be updated to include the potential for liquefied natural gas, but not just with them, with all of the Treaty 8 Nations. The key to rebuilding the relationship was the Premier coming up and delivering an apology in person, sitting down with the Chief and talking about what we are trying to achieve   together.”

Today, the Premier is in Kuala Lumpur, meeting with senior Business Executives to promote LNG development.  She will also have a meeting with the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

"B.C. is on the right path to bring home the generational opportunity of LNG – an industry that will create 100,000 jobs and enough revenue to eliminate our debt," said Premier Clark. "To take the last crucial steps towards final investment decisions, we're meeting with key Asian investors and governments."

Wednesday she’s off to Singapore, and Friday she is in Hong Kong for meetings before heading back to Vancouver.