VICTORIA (CP) - Up in the mountains, in a tiny university classroom more than 1,500 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, aboriginals studying culture weighted the significance Thursday of what governments and aboriginal leaders were hailing as a historic treaty vote in the suburbs.

Does the 70-per-cent majority vote by the less than 200 Tsawwassen First Nation members signal a treaty breakthrough in British Columbia's rocky land-claims relationship with its aboriginal peoples?

Or is it a small step along a long road, the students were pondering.

Prof. Margaret Anderson, of the University of Northern British Columbia, said her students in Nisga'a territory were excited about Wednesday's positive treaty result for the Tsawwassen people.

But they agree a more accurate reflection of the aboriginal mood towards treaty-making with the B.C. and federal governments will come Saturday in a vote on the remote west coast of Vancouver Island by members of the Maa-nulth First Nations.

"The Tsawwassen is an urban treaty," said Anderson.

She said urban groups can't focus too much on gaining land because there isn't much available.

"(The Maa-nulth,) that will probably give us a better sense because a lot of the treaties that are in negotiations are people who have more of an interest in retaining their territories."

"For a lot of the groups in the province, they want control over their territories and resources, so it's much harder to let go if they don't get those."

The Maa-nulth vote result will give everybody a better reflection of the mood of B.C. aboriginals toward embracing and supporting the 15-year-old, $1-billion-and-counting treaty process at the ballot box, Anderson said.

"We may find that the negotiating ball park is the ball park people are willing to play in," she said.

"We will see. I wouldn't say that it's going to be a ball rolling down the hill, picking up everything in its wake. But I think that there is a possibility that if they found a mix that works that we may see some further movement.

"But it's going to be a long process still."

Anderson's class in the remote northwest B.C.'s Nass Valley is comprised solely of members of the Nisga'a Nation, aboriginals who voted in 1998 to accept British Columbia's first modern-day treaty after more than 100 years of on-again, off-again talks.

About 100 members of the Maa-nulth and Tsawwassen nations visited Nisga'a territory prior to their votes and appeared impressed with what they saw and heard, she said.

The B.C. government spent about $150,000 to send the aboriginals to Nisga'a territory.

Less than 20 of British Columbia's almost 200 aboriginal groups have treaties, and most of the existing treaties were signed more than 150 years ago when the province was a British colony.

The Huu-ay-aht First Nation of Bamfield, located about 300 kilometres northwest of Victoria, will hold the first of five Maa-nulth votes Saturday on a tentative land-and-cash treaty reached last year.

The vote result is expected Sunday.

The treaty deal is worth an estimated $500 million and gives band members ownership of almost 25,000 hectares of land, some of it bordering majestic Pacific Rim National Park near Tofino.

The financial component of the Maa-nulth treaty includes cash in lump-sum and timed payments.

The band will receive $90 million in cash, up to $45 million over 25 years for potential revenue sharing projects and $150 million over eight years for program financing.

Estimates for the value of the treaty lands range between $100 million and $200 million.

Land values in recent years in the area, especially near Ucluelet and Pacific Rim Park, have risen considerably.

The treaty suggests much of the $90 million in cash will go towards a commercial fishing program that allows Maa-nulth members to buy commercial fishing licences.

The Maa-nulth will fish under current Department of Fisheries commercial rules, but the deal includes a compensation package if the government decides to terminate the licences.

The licences for commercial fishing cover numerous fish species, including salmon, halibut and sable fish.

A spokesman for the federal government said Thursday it will vote in favour of the treaty when it comes before the House of Commons. The B.C. Liberals and the B.C. NDP also plan to vote in favour in the provincial legislature.

A prominent B.C. aboriginal leader who opposes the current treaty negotiation process said the ratification of the Tsawwassen treaty does little to move aboriginal rights forward in British Columbia.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said the process asks aboriginals to give up their traditional land territories in favour of strict land-and-cash deals.

He said he views the treaty process as an attempt by the federal and provincial governments to fence in aboriginals in order to secure the remaining land in British Columbia for private business interests.