The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear a new appeal from British Columbia First Nations over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
The court dismissed the appeal this morning from the Squamish Nation, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, the Ts’elxweyeqw Tribes and Coldwater Indian Band, effectively ending the years-long legal battle over the project.
The First Nations successfully halted federal approval of the project in 2018 when the Federal Court of Appeal said Ottawa had failed to properly consult affected First Nations.
But in February the same court dismissed another challenge by the same bands over the government’s June 2019 decision to approve the project a second time after another round of Indigenous consultation.
In April they asked the Supreme Court of Canada to hear the case but today the court refused and, as usual, gave no reasons for that decision.
The expanded pipeline will nearly triple the amount of diluted bitumen flowing between Alberta’s oilsands and a marine port in Burnaby, B.C.
