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Ellis Ross is filled with gut-wrenching dread as several major proposed energy projects unravel in British Columbia.

The former chief counsellor of the Haisla Nation near Kitimat has laboured for more than 13 years to improve Indigenous lives through economic self-sufficiency — it’s how he says he measures success — and now it could all come crashing down because of what he believes are misguided government actions that burden those projects with unnecessary costs.

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“We were right on the cusp of First Nations in my region being able to look after themselves,” said Ross, who ran and won a Liberal seat in the provincial legislature last May to help get the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry off the ground.

“We were just starting to turn the tide on that opposition to everything. For the first time, since white contact, we were ready to take our place in B.C. and Canada. Instead, B.C. is not going to exist pretty soon in terms of investment. That is how worried I am.”