Watch the video from the press conference in which First Nations officially launched their appeals of the recent re-approval of the Trans Mountain Pipeline and Tanker Expansion Project (TMX). If successful, these legal challenges could once again stop the project in its tracks by quashing or nullifying the approval.

The First Nations applicants’ traditional territories cover virtually all of the pipeline’s route in BC. Legal grounds include constitutional violations, primarily around the failure to satisfy the duty to consult, accommodate and seek consent from First Nations, and regulatory legal errors by the National Energy Board.

“Tsleil-Waututh Nation participated in consultation in good faith again, but it was clear that Canada had already made up their mind as the owners of the project.” Said Chief Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation. “They repeated many of the same mistakes again, and any changes were window dressing.” Many First Nations argued that the pipeline would destroy significant spiritual and historic sites as well as important aquifers, impede their ability to practice their culture and exercise Aboriginal rights, and cause significant environmental impacts.