EventAction
Alberta Court of Appeal sets aside the Rigel approval and sends it back to the regulator
In Fort McKay First Nation v Prosper Petroleum (2020 ABCA 163), the court unanimously allowed Fort McKay's appeal. The majority held that the AER took an unreasonably narrow view of the public interest by declining to consider the state of the Moose Lake negotiations between Fort McKay and the Crown (para. 68); the court vacated the approval and directed the AER to reconsider it, taking into account the honour of the Crown and the Moose Lake process (para. 71). Fort McKay had asked that the matter go back to the regulator to decide whether the project should be delayed, approved or denied (para. 69). Fort McKay called it 'an historic victory for Treaty rights' (release, Apr. 24, 2020).
- Date
- Kind
- Court ruling
- Where
- Canada / Alberta
- Evidence
- Action: Something was done: a law switched on, a tariff imposed, money committed. How evidence is weighed
- Who
- Alberta Energy Regulator (subject); Fort McKay First Nation (acted); Prosper Petroleum (counterparty)
Articles that cite this record
Sources
- Court of Appeal of Alberta (copy hosted by ABlawg), “Fort McKay First Nation v Prosper Petroleum Ltd, 2020 ABCA 163” (external site), . source record
- Fort McKay First Nation (CNW), “Fort McKay First Nation Chief and Council: "An historic victory for Treaty rights and Indigenous communities"” (external site), . source record
Projects
Claims that rest on this event
- 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.
Fort McKay First Nation won a 2020 ruling setting aside the approval of Prosper's Rigel project, withdrawn in 2021: the closest case to a project stopped by a court ruling, though the end came after Alberta adopted a land plan for the area.