EventAction
Federal Court of Appeal quashes the Trans Mountain expansion approval over marine shipping and inadequate consultation
In Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada (2018 FCA 153), the Federal Court of Appeal quashed Order in Council P.C. 2016-1069, which had approved the Trans Mountain expansion, rendering the National Energy Board's certificate a nullity. The court found that the Board had wrongly left project-related tanker traffic out of its review, and that at the last stage of consultation, Phase III, Canada had failed to engage in meaningful dialogue with the Indigenous applicants about their concerns. It sent the decision back to cabinet for prompt redetermination.
- Date
- Kind
- Court ruling
- Where
- Canada
- Evidence
- Action: Something was done: a law switched on, a tariff imposed, money committed. How evidence is weighed
- Who
- Tsleil-Waututh Nation (acted); Coldwater Indian Band (acted); Squamish Nation (Skwxwu7mesh Uxwumixw) (acted)
Articles that cite this record
Sources
- Federal Court of Appeal, “Tsleil-Waututh Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2018 FCA 153” (external site), . source record
Projects
Claims that rest on this event
- Consultation gives First Nations no veto. Courts send approvals back for more consultation but rarely end projects: Trans Mountain's approval was quashed in 2018, granted again in 2019, and the pipeline was built. A nation that objects usually ends with an agreement or with an approval over its objection, so a nation that opposes and later signs reveals nothing about its motive. Provinces and towns holding the same lever end the same way.
The Federal Court of Appeal quashed Trans Mountain's approval in 2018 for inadequate consultation and sent it back to cabinet: the court reopened the decision, it did not end the project.
- In the record so far, resource projects facing organized First Nations, Métis or Inuit opposition reached construction about as often as those without it (approved: 4 of 7 vs 1 of 2; under review: 2 of 4 vs 2 of 8); tiny, selected samples.
Trans Mountain's expansion, opposed by First Nations in court, had its approval quashed in 2018: one of the two opposed review-stage projects that reached construction.