B.C. First Nations file legal challenges of federal decision on Pacific Link pipeline

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Bluesky
• Share on X
• Copy Link

The Tsartlip application asks the court to confirm the Canadian government must “meaningfully consult” the nation before deciding if the pipeline is in the national interest.

municipal matters

Meadow Lake proposes raising littering fine from $100 to $500

1h ago

Riderville

VIDEO: Riders' Trevor Harris weighing future after loss

4h ago

Innovation Fund

Saskatchewan doctors raise concerns about health-care pressures

4h ago

The pipeline was the first project to receive the designation under the Building Canada Act during an announcement by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last month.

The proposal is for a new pipeline that largely follows the path of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline to an export terminal in Metro Vancouver with an estimated cost between $35.2 billion and $42.7 billion.

The designation means the project would be subject to a fast-tracked, streamlined regulatory process conducted by the federal major projects office, a move Tsartlip First Nation spokesman Adam Olsen calls “reckless.”

“The national interest designation concerns a multibillion-dollar publicly funded project that is not expected to be completed until 2032,” Olsen says in the statement. “Yet the consultation and decision-making process happened in less than three months.”

Olsen, who’s a former B.C. Green legislator, says there is concern there may be more projects of national interest affecting First Nations, citing last week’s announcement that the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion has also been added to that list.

“How this decision is made will shape every one that follows, for our people, for future generations and for every community, First Nations or otherwise, that could be next,” Olsen says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 2, 2026.

The Canadian Press