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

“These are incredibly important fishing areas for our people, and so the process was rushed. It was through the middle of summer and the government failed its basic test.”

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

It means the project would be subject to a fast-tracked, streamlined regulatory process conducted by the federal major projects office.

Olsen said the process is moving too fast.

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

The proposed pipeline would largely follow the path of the existing Trans Mountain pipeline to an export terminal in Metro Vancouver, with an estimated price tag between $35.2 billion and $42.7 billion.

The project has also drawn the ire of the St’at’imc Chiefs Council, which represents nine nations along the proposed pipeline route in B.C.’s Interior and Fraser Valley.

The council issued a statement on Monday saying it had launched legal action in Federal Court to the government’s approval of the Pacific Link pipeline.

Approving the Pacific Link project without full assessment of risks to salmon and fishing rights, and without deep consultation to ensure the consent of all affected First Nations, is unacceptable and unlawful, the statement said.

The council said its members rely on Fraser River salmon, and the risk of an oil spill from the proposed pipeline’s river crossings was a “heinous” threat to the communities’ fishing rights and way of life.

“The collusion of the federal and provincial governments along with a few industry and corporate elites, who cloak themselves as economic saviours, will force First Nations further into third-world conditions contributed to by the extinction of the Fraser River wild salmon and the collapse of First Nations’ culture and traditions relating to wild salmon,” St’at’imc elder Art Adolph said in the statement.

The statement said the pipeline proposal involves more than 500 river crossings, including two new crossings along the Fraser River.

It would also increase tanker traffic in the Salish Sea, the group said.

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

Olsen said there is concern there may be more projects of national interest affecting First Nations, pointing to last week’s announcement that the Port of Vancouver’s Roberts Bank Terminal 2 expansion has also been added to the list.

Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said the existing port facility is approaching the limit of its capacity and the expansion would add 2.4 million containers of capacity annually.

He said the national interest listing provided certainty for a project that’s a key part of Ottawa’s drive to expand and diversify trade, including a goal to double exports to markets other than the United States by 2035.

MacKinnon said the project, which has an estimated capital cost of $5.9 billion, would “fit gently into the ecosystem,” with Ottawa committing funding to protect the habitat of fish, marine mammals and endangered southern resident killer whales.

Olsen, however, wasn’t convinced, saying Tsartlip “has the same level of concern” for the terminal expansion as it does for the new pipeline.

“How these decisions are made are going to shape decisions going forward, not just for First Nations, but for all Canadians,” Olsen said.

“I think that it’s important that we understand the implications of those laws, and in this case, the Government of Canada has a duty to consult Tsartlip, and we believe they failed in that duty.”

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

Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press

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

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