B.C. First Nation, environmental groups seek leave to appeal Trans Mountain ruling
Credit to Author: The Canadian Press| Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2019 20:27:00 +0000
A B.C. First Nation and three environmental groups hope to appeal a federal-court decision that limited their ability to challenge the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in court.
The Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Ecojustice, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Living Oceans Society announced Tuesday that they’re seeking leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The Federal Court of Appeal decided in September that it would allow six First Nations, including the Tsleil-Waututh, to challenge the pipeline project but ruled arguments could only focus on the latest round of Indigenous consultation.
The Tsleil-Waututh says the court is wrong not to consider its arguments that Canada failed to justify infringement of its Aboriginal rights and title or obtain its consent for the B.C.-to-Alberta pipeline expansion.
The Federal Court refused to hear any of the environmental groups’ arguments, which urged the court to consider the project’s risk of a “catastrophic” oil spill and threats to endangered southern resident killer whales.
The Supreme Court doesn’t automatically hear appeals and instead issues a written decision, usually within one-to-three months, on whether it will consider a case.
Chief Leah Sisi-ya-ama George-Wilson says in a news release that the Tsleil-Waututh are confident in their case.
“This appeal is about making sure that the government follows (its) own Constitution and statutes when making decisions that impact us all,” she says.
The Canadian government bought the existing pipeline and infrastructure for $4.5 billion and construction on the expansion project resumed this summer.