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First Nations say Trudeau doesn't have their consent to build Trans Mountain

“This pipeline will never be built,” say First Nation leaders in B.C.
Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs Vice President  Chief Bob Chamberlin, left, and Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, centre, President of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, join protesters opposed to the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline extension and defy a court order blocking an entrance to the company's property, in Burnaby, B.C., on Saturday April 7, 2018. The pipeline is set to increase the capacity of oil products flowing from Alberta to the B.C. coast to 890,000 barrels from 300,000 barrels. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Justin Trudeau’s government is inching closer to a head-on collision with opposing First Nations, mayors and the B.C. government over the Trans Mountain pipeline.

While the Prime Minister visited France on Monday, natural resources minister Jim Carr echoed Trudeau’s previous comments, proclaiming in Question Period, “The pipeline will be built.” Carr added that the Liberal government had undertaken “incredible consultation, historic consultation” with First Nations along the proposed pipeline route.

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But hours later, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs issued a press release stating, “This pipeline will never be built.” During a press conference Monday, leaders of the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish First Nations along the pipeline route said consultations have been “deeply flawed,” and the federal government does not have their consent to build the Trans Mountain expansion.

While some First Nations along the route have endorsed the project, others say it poses a threat to their land and water, and neglects their rights.

Approved by Trudeau’s government in November 2016, the project would expand an existing pipeline from Alberta’s oil sands to the B.C. coast, tripling its capacity. Its proponents argue Canada needs to get Alberta oil to the B.C. coast cheaply and efficiently so it can be sold to Asian markets. Opponents say the project poses an unacceptable risk of oil spills along the B.C. coast, and ignores the rights of First Nations along the route.

Challenged to find a way around opposition from municipal, provincial and First Nation governments in B.C., Trudeau has directed the finance minister to enter into private financial discussions with Kinder Morgan, the Houston-based company behind the pipeline, and has promised to table legislation that would affirm the federal government’s jurisdiction on the project.

But Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, warned Monday: if that legislation infringes on Indigenous rights, there will be further legal action against the government.

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“[Trudeau] is on the public record saying, governments provide permits and communities provide consent,” Phillip said. “Clearly the Indigenous communities as well as the citizens of British Columbia have not provided their consent or social license for this project to proceed.”

"The Trudeau government ran on promises of changing the relationship with First Nations and he has completely failed in that regard.”

“This pipeline and these tankers that traverse through our people’s territories have not met our consent as a nation,” said newly elected Squamish Nation councillor Khelsilem Dustin Rivers. “The work that has been been proposed by the Trudeau government, as well as the proponent Kinder Morgan, contravenes our rights as a people.”

The Squamish Nation is one of three Indigenous territories that underlays the city of Vancouver. Squamish people have a right to self-determination on their territories, Rivers said, “a right that we have never surrendered and never given up.”

“To that end, the Squamish Nation has taken both the provincial government and the federal government to court over the deeply flawed consultation process,” he continued. “We have rights as a nation which have not been met or honoured by this government. The Trudeau government ran on promises of changing the relationship with First Nations and he has completely failed in that regard.”

In a statement to VICE News on Monday, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said, “That [consultation] process did deeply involve Indigenous peoples and continues to involve Indigenous peoples — those who have signed on to agreements and those who still have questions and concerns. We continue to engage regularly with First Nations to allay fears, to create partnerships, to invest in the future of their communities.”