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VICTORIA — Premier John Horgan is downplaying the significance of the 33 B.C. First Nations that signed benefit-sharing agreements with builder Kinder Morgan on the Trans Mountain expansion project.

“It’s not about majority rule here,” Horgan told reporters when asked during a recent media scrum what he would say to those First Nations.

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“When you are talking about an energy corridor from the border with Alberta to the Coast, you are dealing with dozens and dozens of First Nations.”

He cited some First Nations that have not, as he put it, “given consent to this activity in their territory.”

“You can have 200 First Nations that are supportive,” Horgan went on to say. “I would argue that those nations would also respect the sovereignty and the integrity of the Squamish, the Tsleil-Waututh, the Upper Nicola, the Coldwater, and the list goes on and on.

“I just reject the notion that this is a majority rule situation,” he repeated. “These are rights and titleholders. Those rights and titleholders have to be acknowledged and respected.”