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Wednesday’s decision does not overturn the approvals for the project, which were granted again by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in June, but they do introduce another legal hurdle for the pipeline project.

“There’s no tools-down requirement,” Newman said, noting that opponents would need to apply for an injunction in order to force work to stop on the pipeline, a move which would frustrate the oil industry’s plans.

Tsleil-Waututh Nation, one of the First Nations that filed the motion, said it was “confident the court will once again decide in our favour.”

“Canada continued to do the legal minimum and in our view, fell well below the mark again,” Chief Leah George-Wilson said in release, which noted that “the same six First Nations that stopped the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in its tracks last year will have another chance” to overturn approvals for the project again.

Amid entrenched opposition from First Nations and the government of British Columbia, Houston-based pipeline giant sold the Trans Mountain pipeline system and expansion project to Ottawa in May 2018 for $4.5 billion. The federal government has been trying to move the project forward since that time and recently announced construction would restart and work would be complete within two years.

“It’s a very disappointing decision” but I’m not sure anyone could say it’s surprising,” Petroleum Services Association of Canada president Gary Mar said following the ruling, which demonstrates that the project was still mired in uncertainty.