© Access to all public roads as well as to land and resources for recreational use will be
guaranteed for all British Columbians.

e Province-wide standards of resource management and environmental protection will apply.

e Disruptions to interests on Crown lands will be avoided. If disruption occurs, there will be
fair and timely compensation.

The Benefits

"When all of the financial impacts in B.C. are considered, British Columbia can expect about
three dollars worth of total financial benefit for every dollar of provincial financial cost," the
report says. The net financial benefit to British Columbia...including B.C.'s share of cash, pre-
treaty and negotiation costs and a further deduction for its share of Federal costs paid by British
Columbians as Federal taxpayers--is between $3.9 billion and $5.3 billion, when totalled over 40
years.

The benefit arises mainly from the cash benefits to First Nations. The inflow of money into the
province will spawn economic development in First Nation communities. However, according
to the study, British Columbians as a whole will benefit and take-home paycheques will be up to
$400 million higher at the end of the day.

Not all the benefits of resolving land claims can be measured in dollars and cents. Social
conditions. in aboriginal communities have long been below that of other British Columbians,
with higher infant mortality, suicide and birth rates, below-average life expectancy, welfare
dependency and high rates of unemployment.

Treaties will not end all of those problems. But they are expected to go a long way to increasing
self-sufficiency in native communities and allowing native people access to the economic and
employment mainstream. As the income disparity is diminished, savings in social expenditures -
- and less reliance on government support -- will bring additional benefits.

At the same time, the certainty that treaties will bring to.the province's land and resources will
encourage increased investment as people with new financial confidence spend money. First
Nations, too, will invest settlement money in the province, which will result in modest economic
boom for business people in communities near First Nations.

British Columbia should also see a significant employment increase as a result of treaties, with a
KPMG estimate of between 7,000 and 17,000 jobs.