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Trudeau last visited the province in December following the approval of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion that will triple the capacity of an existing pipeline that runs from near Edmonton to Burnaby, B.C. It will increase tanker traffic seven-fold within the densely populated Burrard Inlet.

Trudeau downplayed questions about lengthy protests related the project when meeting with local media last month.

He said some people will disagree with the decision to approve the project and expressing that disagreement is part of the democratic process.

But he also defended the approval, saying, “We need to both protect the environment and build a stronger economy at the same time.”

Aaron Sam, Chief of the Lower Nicola Indian Band near Merritt, says Trudeau should hold public discussions in B.C.

The Trans Mountain pipeline crosses through the band’s territory and members will be voting next month whether they should approve an agreement with Kinder Morgan.

Like much of the country, Sam says attitudes toward the pipeline are varied in his community.

Photo by DARRYL DYCK / THE CANADIAN PRESS

He says he raised concerns about how the pipeline and its related tanker traffic will affect the salmon population the community relies on but doesn’t feel that the federal government has taken those concerns seriously.

“(The Prime Minister) never sat down with us once,” he said in an interview Saturday.

The Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish nations, as well as the Coldwater Indian Band, launched legal challenges against the federal government earlier this month contending they were not properly consulted for the pipeline’s approval.