Canada needs big projects. How can video help?

LNG Canada shipped its first natural gas in summer 2025 from BC’s west coast to Asia, proving Canadians can deliver big projects and get natural resources to world markets. That's a huge win in today's economic climate. Yet, natural resources development remains a tough sell. Engineering and approvals are challenge enough. But the “heavy lifting” for resource projects is about moving hearts and minds.

For comms teams, LNG Canada offers lessons on how video can help build social licence and strengthen the investor case, even against the odds. LNG Canada hired my team at Journeyman to create dozens of videos over five years leading to the final investment ($40B) greenlight in fall 2018. The lessons here show the path for "big project" success in Canada as we look for economic diversification and growth in the face of trade pressures from the USA.

1. Help the audience see themselves in the project

Some Canadians seem hardwired for a knee jerk opposition to big projects. One reason is that companies often lead with one-way communication: "here's the way we see economic benefits, safety, plan details." Also, the scale of "big projects" can be intimidating. But local folks need to know, “what’s in it for me? How do I fit into this picture?” Communications needs to put them at the centre.

How can video help?

Video can shift the storytelling to embrace the hearts and minds of locals and turn a big project into a big partnership. There are many examples in LNG Canada's engagement. In the early days, they formalized a Community Commitment charter after countless open houses. We filmed those sessions, capturing people’s concerns, objections, hopes. We edited their story together, then used motion graphics to illustrate a living document changing with community input. The video storytelling felt organic and authentic, led by the community. At the unveiling, people felt heard because they saw themselves in the video. The emphasis was people and process, not PR, signalling we’re on this journey together.

Another smart example is when LNG Canada took local and First Nations leaders to Oman to see an operating LNG facility in person. Our mini-doc followed the story, and showed the mindset shift happening in real time during that trip. It captured the journey for easy sharing back home. 

Every video we created looked for a way to insert the community authentically into the bigger story, incorporating their point of view. It authentically shifts the conversation away from “us against them.”

2. Be more human, less corporate

In Canada, many see big projects as threatening, which breeds distrust. From the outset, LNG Canada emphasized human connection, offering many voices and touch-points through consultation, presence, listening. It felt authentically human, not slick.

How can video help?

Simple video production choices make messages feel more human than corporate: in Kitimat: The Perfect Spot we could have simply listed site attributes that made Kitimat's location ideal; instead, we chased down the lead engineer who was tasked with choosing 1 site out of 500 potentials. He shares his apprehensions and journey of discovery. We meet the town archivist, and a site manager for a ride-along tour. The music choices, pacing, informal filming all make it more human.

The engineer, Joost, had been part of many projects over his career and he'd seen many corporate videos that felt “too good to be true,” but the ones we delivered for LNG Canada felt authentic, from the hearts and minds of the people involved. More importantly, he said the Journeyman approach to video helped key internal stakeholders and investors start to change their minds about the viability of the project. That’s a huge deal.

3. Acknowledge fears and show details on mitigation

Kitimat is a tough, outdoorsy, blue collar town in a spectacular coastal mountain setting. From what we observed, the people care about their environment and their industries. But all communities fear the unknown, which is totally fair. 

How can video help?

Given the fact that Liquified Natural Gas was a brand new industry to Canada, the local public had some concerns. LNG Canada ran public sessions with LNG expert Eric Neandross, who dispelled myths and fears in classrooms and town halls. We captured his road-show in What is LNG? — a quirky, human piece that made the science approachable while covering the essentials.

Another worry was shipping impact on the Douglas Channel: wakes on the shoreline, whale strikes, increased marine traffic. Alongside info sessions, we produced videos with photo-real animation to show actual traffic patterns, safety protocols, and mitigations, turning abstract risk into something people could see and judge for themselves.

4. Humanize complex processes like the Environmental Assessment

Big project Environmental Assessments are complex. The EA submission for LNG Canada was thousands of pages, and that’s not easy for the public to digest. 

How can video help?

We created 9 videos that helped to unpack the EA. As always, we worked to humanize the subject and put the community members in the frame so that it was about them and their environmental concerns. 

For example, in the video about marine life and mitigation research, we featured a local tourism operator who clearly communicated the community’s love of their natural environment. In the video about Air quality, we led with a local runner who valued the clean northern mountain air in Kitimat. And in the video about First Nations we featured a mom from the Haisla community who describes the need to build economic opportunity for the future while preserving what’s important. 

The year-long marine mammal baseline research for the EA ranks among the most detailed and complex studies done on the West Coast of BC, according to its lead biologist. It was eye opening to meet her and feel her enthusiasm. It made me think “I wish more Canadians could see and understand the work that companies like LNG Canada put into the work on environmental impacts.”

5. Make shared values tangible and visible

Kitimat knows boom-and-bust. Trust must be earned. LNG Canada built a real presence: locals on the team, professionals relocating, getting to know the area.

How can video help?

Show specific contributions and examples as good corporate neighbours. This short piece of video storytelling, Kitimat Marine Search & Rescue, connected safety on the water (a shared value) to the LNG project, telling the story through their point of view. A big donation toward a modern rescue boat was one of many community investments by LNG Canada. This kind of storytelling is stronger than typical “cheque-shot” ribbon cutting PR. 

6. Big projects need a portfolio, not a one-shot video

Big projects are complex. The need for communications ranges from broad (national opportunity) to highly specific (“Will shipping be safe?”).

A wide range of subjects, tones, and formats enables a project team to connect with the audience where they're at. Of course we produced standard corporate videos featuring LNG Canada leaders speaking about opportunity, safety and economics; but also videos that showed townspeople in their own spaces, and First Nations in their communities; specific explainer videos (Eric’s LNG demo, Environmental Assessment); and even “seeing is believing” stories like the Kitimat town delegation to Oman. That variety mirrors stakeholder points of view, acknowledges real complexity, and turns communication from a controlled broadcast into a collective journey.

From my vantage point as a video producing partner, the broader team of LNG Canada set the gold standard for engagement. Video was just an extension of the incredible efforts they made to connect meaningfully and regularly with their target audiences.

Video can play a huge role in shifting points of view, and our culture, when it comes to big natural resources projects in Canada. Most important of all, it helps bring "big projects" down to the human scale.