The National Post reports in its Thursday edition that Assembly of First Nations head Perry Bellegarde told a Calgary business crowd Wednesday the energy industry must do a better job on safety and protecting the environment if it wants to earn the trust of aboriginal people. The Post's James Wood writes that Mr. Bellegarde said first nations are watching the recent spill of bitumen from a state-of-the-art Nexen pipeline south of Fort McMurray, Alta. Nexen is a unit of CNOOC. He said, "If the industry can assure people there are systems in place -- better systems -- they will be more open to transportation, to the pipelines." He noted Nexen had the best technology in place. He said the spill should not have happened. First nation opposition has been a major factor in stalling Enbridge's Northern Gateway pipeline. Resistance by aboriginal groups could also hamper TransCanada's proposed Energy East line to the Atlantic coast. Mr. Bellegarde, however, noted there is a vast difference of opinion among individual first nations on pipelines, with some interested in the economic potential of the projects and others fiercely opposed. He said both the oil patch and governments need to engage with indigenous people.