While the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project ultimately went ahead (subject to further legal challenges), the Indigenous legal challenges led to the voiding of the first approval in 2018, significantly slowing down construction.

59 First Nations (including almost every coastal nation directly affected by tanker traffic, 21 B.C. municipalities including North Vancouver, Victoria, and Burnaby) and over 210,000 citizens signed petitions opposing the Trans Mountain (TMX) pipeline expansion project. In June 2019, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Indigenous Nations and quashed the pipeline approval. After a new set of consultations, the federal government again approved TMX in 2019 and this time the Court of Appeal upheld the approval. But Coldwater Nations successfully pushed for a re-route of the pipeline, protecting its community’s aquifer.

How the RAVEN Community supported this campaign

We built an incredible movement of community activists, organizational allies and business supporters from Seattle to Montreal. People came together in wonderfully creative ways, hosting everything from Pancakes Not Pipelines brunch parties to a “TMX is Such a Drag” Burlesque show. Online fundraisers and community event organizers raised $1.2 million for the Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, and Coldwater Nations to support court challenges to push back against TMX.

https://pull-together.ca