Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks after he met with Coastal First Nations leaders in Prince Rupert, B.C. on Tuesday.Aaron Whitfield/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney promised First Nations on British Columbia’s West Coast new ocean protection resources on Tuesday, but was told support for an oil pipeline to the north coast remains a hard “no.”
“It was very good,” Mr. Carney told reporters after meeting with about five dozen Indigenous leaders from the north and central coast for more than two hours.
The closed-door meeting at Prince Rupert’s convention centre was set up after coastal First Nations lashed out over being excluded from talks between Ottawa and Alberta on a new oil pipeline to the Pacific.
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It is the first time Mr. Carney has met with Indigenous leaders on the coast since signing the memorandum of understanding with Alberta last November. The tone was set in the meeting when Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson delivered a direct apology to First Nations for suggesting that he could meet with the leadership through a video conference.
Heiltsuk Chief Marilyn Slett said Indigenous leaders in the room made clear to Mr. Carney that they oppose any project that would bring oil tankers to the dangerous waters off the north coast.
“There is no technology that can clear up an oil spill at sea,” she said at a news conference after the meeting. “It would take just one spill to destroy our way of life.”
Ms. Slett, who also leads the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative, said Mr. Carney promised to develop a consultation model as he pursues new economic developments – an imperative driven by shifting global trade patterns.
“Today we heard directly from the Prime Minister that his government will seek our free, prior and informed consent for any proposed projects in our territories,” she said. And that consent, she added, will not come if it means oil tanker traffic off the north coast.
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Mr. Carney, in a statement released after the meeting, said he needs to pursue new economic opportunities for Canada – while also balancing the need to protect the country’s coastal waters.
“Our country is under threat, putting our economy, our sovereignty, and our way of life at risk. This is a rupture, not a transition,” he said. But he also said marine protection is “not just a moral obligation – it is an economic necessity.”
Mr. Carney made commitments to fund a marine traffic risk assessment study, and to extend the leases on two tugs designated as emergency towing vessels for the West Coast until 2028.
Coastal First Nations say they made clear to Prime Minister Mark Carney at a meeting in Prince Rupert, B.C., that they remain opposed to plans to build a oil pipeline from Alberta to B.C.'s northern coast. They say Carney was attentive to their concerns.
The Canadian Press
The Prime Minister visited the coastal city of Prince Rupert, one of Canada’s busiest ports and a key gateway for trade with Asia, on his way to China for a trade mission focused on finding new markets and investment for Canadian goods. He is seeking to reset strained relations with Beijing to reduce Canada’s dependency on an increasingly protectionist United States.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, in a statement on X, criticized Mr. Carney for taking too long to meet with First Nations about a new pipeline. “He promised to build with speeds not seen in generations. Time for him to get out of the way.”
But the First Nations leadership were upbeat about the meeting, describing it as a positive step.
“We’re respectful of the challenge that the federal government is facing, and we want to be as flexible as we can,” said Gaagwiis Jason Alsop, president of the Haida Nation. Although he said communities on the coast support “sustainable” resource development, he added that lifting the oil tanker ban would threaten support from his nation for other resource development projects. Those multibillion-dollar projects include critical minerals and liquefied natural gas in B.C.’s north, which are increasing marine traffic in local waters.
“The position that we have on the oil tanker moratorium act is really grounded on these projects that we see that have been greenlit, or are about to be greenlit,” he said. “We can’t support any oil tankers on top of that.”
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The Coastal First Nations is an umbrella organization that represents nine First Nations on the central coast, including the Heiltsuk and Haida Nations. Also at the meeting were leaders from the Haisla and Lax Kw’alaams, who have rejected proposals to run an oil pipeline to the port in Kitimat, B.C., in their traditional territories.
The federal Liberal government introduced the north coast oil tanker ban in legislation in 2019, cementing a moratorium that has been in place for decades.
But lifting that tanker ban is on the table since Mr. Carney signed an MOU with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith late last November, to seek a path for a new bitumen pipeline to the West Coast that would ship one million barrels a day.
Ms. Smith’s preferred route would deliver oil to a terminal at Prince Rupert, a deep-sea port that boasts a shorter transit to Asian markets than the route out of the Port of Vancouver.
But to do that, the federal government would need to lift or amend the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which recognizes that the waters off B.C.’s north coast present exceptional navigational hazards.
A storm warning was in effect Tuesday for Hecate Strait, and fishermen had tied up their boats in Prince Rupert for the day.
With reports from Stephanie Levitz