Settling land claims through treaties with B.C.'s First Nations will not only help the first nations involved but all British Columbians, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.

And the sooner the treaties are settled, the greater the benefits.

If all 60 First Nations currently in the B.C. treaty process completed treaties by 2025, B.C. could receive $6.4 billion in economic benefits over time, after de-ducting the costs of reaching those treaties, the report commissioned by the B.C. Treaty Commission said. In present value terms that works out to $4.3 billion.

If it took until 2040 to complete those treaties, the benefits would be $7.3 billion, which works out to $4.1 billion in present value terms. "The sooner treaty settlements occur the sooner benefits will flow to First Nations people and all British Columbians including investments, jobs and economic development," the report says.

Sophie Pierre, chief commissioner for the B.C. Treaty Commission, called the report -- which is the fourth of its kind since the Treaty Commission was set up in 1992 -- "good news."

"These studies ... have underlined that there is a lot of economic benefit that is going to come to this province, in particular of course to the First Nations communities," Pierre said. "But I think just as importantly when a First Nations community sees economic benefit coming to that community, that benefit supports the whole region."

For example, when the Ktunaxa Nation opened the St. Eugene Mission golf resort and casino near Cranbrook, 250 jobs were created, Pierre said. And there weren't enough local people to fill them so many were hired from the region.

"Unfortunately, the opposite is not true," Pierre said. When a region is doing very well economically, it does not necessarily support the aboriginal community.

"But it's very very clear that when the aboriginal community starts to have economic benefit it supports the whole region."

"This illustrates the importance of completing more treaties sooner."