VANCOUVER—The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled six out of 12 legal challenges against the federal government’s latest approval of the Trans Mountain expansion project can proceed.

The six applications permitted to go ahead all come from First Nations and the court has limited the challenges to the issue of the federal government’s consultation with Indigenous people.

The Canadian government re-approved the controversial pipeline project, which would run from the Edmonton-area to Burnaby, B.C. on June 18.

The project had been facing a dozen appeals from pipeline opponents, who asked the Federal Court of Appeal for leave to conduct a judicial review of the Canadian government’s decision to greenlight the pipeline. The 12 parties included eight First Nations, two environmental groups, the City of Vancouver and a collective of youth.

The expansion will twin the existing 1,100-kilometre pipeline and is expected to result in a sevenfold increase in tanker traffic through the Burrard Inlet. It will also create an equivalent of 15,000 construction jobs and 37,000 other jobs each year over 20 years of operation, according to Trans Mountain.

The controversial project has pitted B.C. leaders against their Alberta counterparts as well as the federal government. The two sides disagree about whether the environmental consequences of an oil spill and increased tanker traffic are worth the economic gain from exporting crude oil to international markets.

Here’s what you need to know about the 12 legal challenges:

Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society

Ecojustice is arguing, on behalf of Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society, that cabinet failed to comply with its responsibility to protect critically endangered southern resident killer whales when it reapproved the project June 18.

When the Trans Mountain pipeline was proposed in 2013, there were 82 southern resident killer whales, Ecojustice said in court documents filed in July. Today, there are 73.

This is the second time Ecojustice has gone to court on behalf of the conservation groups over the pipeline expansion, which is expected to increase tanker traffic sevenfold in the whales’ habitat.

Eight First Nations

The eight First Nations challenging the federal government’s latest approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion include: Stz’uminus First Nation, Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Ts’elxweyeqw Tribes, Shxw’owhamel First Nation, Coldwater Indian Band, Upper Nicola Band, and Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc.

Their territories, which run from the east coast of Vancouver Island to the Kamloops area in interior B.C., would be affected by either the pipeline itself or the expected sevenfold increase in tanker traffic.

West Coast Environmental Law staff lawyer Eugene Kung wrote in an August blogpost that a review of the various arguments put forward by these eight First Nations “reveals a number of patterns.”

They argue for instance that the latest round of consultations “was predetermined…rushed, and started with generic accommodation measures rather than trying to understand, and then respond to specific and focused concerns unique to each First Nations,” he wrote.

The First Nations argue that government consultations teams also “denied the existence of documents” and “withheld documents” during the process, Kung wrote.

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Stz’uminus First Nation, located on the east coast of Vancouver Island, for instance, argues that Canada “failed to share key information that it did have with Stz’uminus, failed to engage in meaningful two-way dialogue and failed to offer appropriate accommodation.”

Tsleil-Waututh Nation, a Coast Salish Nation, argues that “cabinet’s approval of TMX infringes Tsleil-Waututh’s Aboriginal rights and title without consent or justification,” wrote Kung.

In interior B.C. the Stk’emlupsemc te Secwepemc, says the National Energy Board’s report to cabinet was flawed and failed to consider impacts to endangered steelhead trout in the Thompson River, he said.

“Together, the legal challenges and arguments raised by Indigenous applicants amount to significant risk that Trans Mountain’s recent approvals will once again be quashed,” Kung concludes.

Share your thoughts

The Federal Court of Appeal previously overturned the federal government’s approval of the project in August 2018, ruling in favour of six First Nations and environmental groups that the government consultations with First Nations were flawed and the decision to ignore oil tanker risks an “unjustified failure.”

Youth climate activists

Four teenagers from across Canada are challenging the federal government’s decision to approve the pipeline because they say it is violating their Charter right to “life, liberty, and security of the person, and to equality.”

In a news release Wednesday, the youth said they believe the government is not considering “the more extreme climate change impacts of the pipeline on youth.”

The four people filing the appeal are Edmonton resident Olivier Adkin-Kaya, 18, Hamilton resident Nina Tran, 18, Winnipeg resident Lena Andres, 17, and Victoria resident Rebecca Wolf Gage, 13.

City of Vancouver

The City of Vancouver has long been opposed to the Trans Mountain pipeline, which ends in the neighbouring suburb of Burnaby.

When the Canadian government bought the pipeline last May, then-Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson called the decision “appalling” and pointed out local governments could be on the hook for cleaning up any oil spill that happens.

Then, when the Canadian government re-approved the pipeline in June, current mayor Kennedy Stewart vowed Vancouver would join any legal challenge in response to the decision.

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