Alberta First Nation taking Ottawa to court over move to fast track Pacific Link pipeline

An Alberta First Nation is taking Ottawa to court over the government’s decision to designate the planned Pacific Link oil pipeline a priority in the national interest, the first legal challenge to the federal push to fast-track the project.

At the heart of the application for judicial review, filed by Cold Lake First Nations on Thursday, is the community’s concerns about a lack of consultation over the pipeline, which would carry one million barrels of oil a day from Bruderheim, Alta., to Roberts Bank, B.C. Another focus of the application is a massive carbon capture project planned for the oil sands.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly tied approval of the pipeline to that carbon capture project, called Pathways, which would include a 400-kilometre pipeline that would transport carbon trapped at oil-sands facilities to an underground hub near Cold Lake, Alta.

Cold Lake First Nations sits in the middle of oil sands development in Northern Alberta. While the community supports responsible resource development, Chief Kelsey Jacko said in a statement, it wants to ensure activity is “done right, with meaningful consultation and clear answers about the long-term impacts of projects in the region.”

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The legal challenge from Cold Lake is the first against Pacific Link, which would give Alberta oil access to more international markets and garner higher prices.

Pacific Link last week became the first major project to be designated a national priority under the federal Building Canada Act, new legislation that is a marquee element of Mr. Carney’s economic agenda.

The pipeline is also a priority of the Alberta government, which has cited it as an example of co-operation with Ottawa in the lead-up to the province’s referendum on separation this month.

The act provides an accelerated pathway through regulatory approvals, but has been criticized by Indigenous groups over concern that a faster approval process could trample their treaty rights.

Other First Nations leaders have also voiced concerns about the new pipeline, including Terry Teegee, Regional Chief of the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, and the Coldwater Indian Band, in B.C.

Ottawa has said Pacific Link will create 140,000 jobs, generate more than $20-billion in GDP per year and $100-billion in government revenue by 2060.

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The government is aiming to finish the project’s federal review process, including consultations, by Sept. 1, 2027, in hopes of having it operational by 2032. Its expected price tag is between $35.2-billion and $43.7-billion.

Cold Lake has been raising concerns with the federal government since 2023 “about the potential environmental, geological and safety risks” related to the proposed Pathways carbon storage hub, “as well as the cumulative impacts of oil sands development in its territories,” Mr. Jacko said.

Yet Ottawa moved ahead with the designation despite repeated requests from Cold Lake for meaningful and timely engagement about the pipeline and Pathways, he added.

While the legal action “does not close the door to working with Canada,” he said, “responsibility to take the first step outside the courtroom now rests with Canada.”

In the application for judicial review, Cold Lake First Nations’ lawyers said the designation breached Canadian law and is inconsistent with the honour of the Crown.

“Increasing oilsands production will have significant adverse effects on the ability of CLFN members to maintain their Luechogh Tue Denesuline way of life as promised by Treaty No. 6,” the application said.

“Canada has made no effort to understand or mitigate the massive cumulative effects of oilsands development on CLFN’s Luechogh Tue Denesuline treaty rights.”

Federal officials have acknowledged the possibility of legal challenges to Pacific Link and its designation, but Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson said in a recent interview he’s confident the government is using best practices.

“What we see in pretty much any project these days, is somebody decides to challenge them. Whether they’ll be successful or not is a very different question,” Mr. Hodgson said last week.

The minister’s office did not provide a comment on the legal challenge when The Globe and Mail reached out on Thursday.

With a report from The Canadian Press