Stoney Nakoda First Nation signs 'huge' oil deal with Chinese firm

Alberta'sStoneyNakoda First Nation says it has signed a "huge" deal with a Chinese petrochemical company to develop oil and gas on its land.

The FirstNation is located 60 kilometres west of Calgary andhas signed a joint venture agreement with Hong Kong-based Huatong Petrochemical Holdings Ltd. to explore and develop oil and gas deposits on Stoney Nation lands.

About 49,000 hectares of land will be explored and developed through the agreement, with Huatong providing all necessary funding possiblyhundreds of millions of dollars and Nakoda Oil & Gas Inc. acting as the primary operator for the joint venture.

"The magnitude of this new agreement betweenHuatong and the Stoney Nations will hopefully bring us one step closer to self-sufficiency for our nation and people," said Bruce Labelle, chief of the Chiniki Nation, which is one of the Stoney Nakoda nations.

Large quantities of natural gas have been produced from the Jumping Pound gas field on the Stoney NakodaNation since the 1950s.

J.P. Gladu, president of the Canadian Council of Aboriginal Business, said the Supreme Court ruling in June recognizing aboriginal title in an area of British Columbia, means that more such deals may be possible.

"What it does is it takes the ambiguity out of the relationship were supposed to have had over the past 200 to 400 years,"Gladu said in an interview with CBCs The Lang & OLeary Exchange.

"It sets a direction for the relationship between governments and first nations, and industry and first nations,"he added.

The StoneyNakoda deal is a heads-up to businesses that they need to give aboriginal partners an active role, he said.

"Weve seen a shift from First Nations being service contractors to now being primary producers. Countries like China are seeing an opportunity so I think Canadian investors need to ....pull up their socks and find a way to create equitable partnerships and then maybe well see more Canadian business partnerships,"Gladu said.

The StoneyNakodaNation includes the Bearspaw, Chinikiand Wesley tribes and is a signatory to Treaty 7.