Pipe sections for the Trans Mountain pipeline are unloaded in Edson, Alta., in 2019.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
A group of First Nations leaders is warning pipeline executives that their companies would take on onerous financial and legal risks by backing a proposed multibillion-dollar pipeline to their traditional territories on British Columbia’s northern coast.
Leaders of the Haida, Kitasoo Xai’xais, Gitga’at and Heiltsuk Nations met with senior officials of Pembina Pipeline Corp. PPL-T and Trans Mountain Corp. in Calgary on Wednesday to emphasize and explain their staunch opposition to a pipeline terminal in that region.
They are also against any move by Ottawa to lift or allow exemptions to a federal ban on tankers loading oil there, which would be necessary for making such a project viable.
A memorandum of understanding signed last year by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is aimed at increasing capacity to export crude off the Pacific Coast. A terminal at the Port of Prince Rupert is being studied among other options as an endpoint for a one-million-barrel-a-day line from Alberta.
North or south? How potential pipeline routes to the West Coast would differ
“We just wanted to make it clear that this is not a good investment and, with everything that needs to be factored in, it is significant,” Gaagwiis, president of Haida Nation, said in an interview after the meetings.
“As we’ve been clear, we’re prepared to challenge this project and make sure it doesn’t get rammed through, and that everyone understands the financial and legal risks associated with pursuing it.”
The leaders sent invitations to three other companies, but they could not meet the schedule, he said. The group plans to come back to Calgary to attend the annual meetings of other pipeline companies this month to press their case.
Crown-owned Trans Mountain ships oil to Burnaby in southern B.C. In 2024, it completed a multiyear expansion that nearly tripled its capacity to 890,000 barrels a day.
Pembina’s operations are skewed more toward natural gas, though it has agreed to partner with First Nations in a bid for Trans Mountain when Ottawa puts it up for sale.
“I think it was really important that we come directly and meet with those who were able to meet with us today. It was important for us to be able to speak directly, face to face,” Gaagwiis said.
Confidence waning among energy industry that new oil pipeline will be fast-tracked, survey finds
“We do know, obviously, this is a kind of community here in Calgary with pipeline companies and producers, and that message heard directly from us can be shared within the circles.”
At the meetings, the Indigenous leaders delivered a letter from six North Coast Nations warning that any pipeline proposal to the region is doomed to fail, following the path of Enbridge Inc.’s ill-fated Northern Gateway proposal that was also opposed by those First Nations.
The letter also cautioned that the federal government’s new legislation for assessing major projects, the Building Canada Act, has not been tested and is likely to be met with legal challenges.
Trans Mountain spokesperson Sneh Seetal said the company’s chief executive officer, Mark Maki, met with the leaders. “We always value the opportunity to meet with Indigenous leaders to understand their perspectives. It was a respectful dialogue,” she said.
Officials with Pembina were not immediately available for comment.
The Indigenous leaders reminded the executives that the B.C. government also opposes tankers loading in northern coastal waters. Last November, B.C. Premier David Eby signed a declaration with Coastal First Nations leaders that binds his government to defending the federal moratorium.
Instead, B.C. is backing industry efforts to get more Albertan oil moving across the south of the province, through an expansion project that will increase the capacity of the Trans Mountain system by roughly 34 per cent.
The B.C. NDP government says pushing an oil pipeline across the province’s north would upset a “fragile consensus” with Indigenous communities that has fostered the development of the province’s liquefied natural gas industry worth tens of billions of dollars.
Bridger’s proposed Canada-Wyoming crude line would cost $2-billion and top 1 million barrels a day
For their parts, Alberta and Ottawa say they haven’t ruled out any options on the route of a potential line. But as The Globe and Mail reported Tuesday, the federal government is mulling a new route in southern B.C. to the Port of Vancouver. Some in Ottawa believe it would face fewer environmental hurdles and less resistance from Indigenous groups than the northern route favoured by Alberta.
Gaagwiis said his group has not travelled to Edmonton to meet with Alberta government officials. He has, however, heard alternative proposals on routing.
“Everybody’s looking at what makes sense, and I think what we’ve heard here and what seems to be clear is that a pipeline to the north coast is one of the least likely routes that make sense from a financial perspective, from a social licence perspective, from an environmental perspective,” he said.
With a report from Justine Hunter in Victoria