First Nations challenging Pacific Link pipeline’s national-interest designation

Three First Nations in Alberta have filed legal challenges in an attempt to overturn the federal government’s designation of the Pacific Link pipeline as a project in the national interest.

The designation allows the federal government to fast-track and consolidate the approval process for the pipeline under the Building Canada Act. The pipeline is designed to move 1 million barrels of oil per day to a deepwater port near Delta, B.C.

The three First Nations applied for a judicial review this week in federal court. They allege this designation acts as an approval without their consultation.

“Canada was required to consult with the Nations prior to making the Listing Decision, when the possibility of saying no … was still an option,” reads a joint application from the Beaver Lake Cree Nation and Frog Lake First Nation.

“Consultation that does not recognize the full range of possible outcomes amounts to nothing more than an opportunity to blow off steam.”

The Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN) filed their own separate application. But all three First Nations pointed out that the Pathways carbon capture project is one of Ottawa’s prerequisites for the pipeline.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is flanked by Pembina Pipeline CEO Scott Burrows, left, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, right, at a news conference north of Fort McMurray, Alta., announcing next steps to accelerate the West Coast pipeline project. (Vincent McDermott/CBC)

The Oil Sands Alliance — a coalition of the five largest energy companies in the oilsands — runs the Pathways project. The plan is to move carbon dioxide emissions from 20 oilsands facilities through a 400-kilometre pipeline network to an underground storage facility in the Cold Lake area.

MCFN argues in court documents that the pipeline designation also “functionally” approved — or at least advanced — the Pathways project without any consultation.

All three First Nations say Pathways, the Pacific Link pipeline and an expected rise in oilsands production from those projects raises questions and concerns about impacts to water, the environment, Treaty rights, wildlife and human health.

WATCH | Some Indigenous communities raise concerns about Pacific Link pipeline:

Indigenous communities raise environmental concerns about Pacific Link pipeline

Indigenous communities are worried about the environmental impacts of the proposed Pacific Link pipeline spanning from Alberta to British Columbia, especially how the federal government plans to clean up the toxic material left over from extraction.

“Such one-sided analysis undermines the reasonableness, justification and intelligibility of the Listing Decision,” reads MCFN’s application.

Cold Lake First Nations and several First Nations in B.C. have also filed similar judicial applications against the pipeline designation. Métis leaders in the Fort McMurray and the Wood Buffalo region say the federal government has not discussed the project at all with them.

MCFN Chief Melody Lepine told CBC News that she shared her concerns directly with Prime Minister Mark Carney during his visit to Fort McMurray last month. Carney announced the designation and met with local First Nation chiefs the night before the event.

“He seemed to be aware of the concerns, but awareness doesn’t mean definitely commitments,” Lepine said.

“There’s been no effort made from the federal government yet to set up this consultation process with us.”

Lepine believes frustrations about a lack of consultation will lead to more First Nations filing similar legal challenges in upcoming months, she said.

She added that she wouldn’t be surprised if the pipeline faced protests and rallies similar to the Idle No More movement in 2012 and 2013.

WATCH | Pacific Link pipeline first ‘project of national interest’:

Carney designates West Coast pipeline a project of national interest

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the West Coast Pipeline, known as Pacific Link, will be listed as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act, allowing the government to fast-track the approval process.

“[This] is really going against the purpose of what Carney is trying to do to achieve investor certainty on a lot of these major projects,” Lepine said.

“We don’t think the project … should get to go ahead until we have those answers and we can do that actual consultation.”

In a statement, Privy Council Office spokesperson Pierre Cuguen said the federal government is aware of the applications and reviewing them. He said the Major Projects Office consulted with more than 130 Indigenous communities that could be impacted by the project and that consultation is ongoing.

“The Building Canada Act was designed to confront the reality that nation-building natural resource and infrastructure projects have long faced complicated and time-consuming federal regulatory reviews,” he said.

“The current challenges facing Canada make it ever more important to act now.”