Trans Mountain pipeline expansion faces new setback as Indigenous opponents score ‘huge win’ in court

VANCOUVER—In the latest setback for the Trans Mountain expansion, the Federal Court of Appeal has approved six new Indigenous legal challenges to the project, once again raising questions about the fate of the pipeline.

The Crown corporation that now owns Trans Mountain said planning and construction will move forward in the meantime, but lawyer and resource development strategist Bill Gallagher said he wouldn’t expect to see “any shovels in the ground any time soon.”

“This to me is looking like dead pipeline walking,” Gallagher said, calling the court’s decision a “huge win for First Nations.”

The decision also ensures the Liberal government will be saddled with the legal uncertainty around the project — which it spent $4.5 billion to purchase, alongside the existing pipeline — through this October’s federal election.

While the court gave the go-ahead Wednesday to half a dozen First Nations to continue their legal efforts to halt the project, it limited the challenges to the issue of the federal government’s consultation with Indigenous Peoples, particularly its latest round.

The court denied six other applications — from two other First Nations, a coalition of youth climate activists, the City of Vancouver and two environmental organizations — leave to proceed.

A lawyer representing the two environmental organizations said they may appeal the decision to Canada’s highest court. MORE

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