OTTAWA — Cold Lake First Nations filed an application Thursday for judicial review in Federal Court, challenging Ottawa's decision to designate the Pacific Link pipeline as a project in the national interest. The legal challenge lands just a week after Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the Alberta-to-British Columbia pipeline would be fast-tracked under the Building Canada Act.
Under the fast-track plan, required reviews and consultations would wrap up within a year so construction can begin next September. But Chief Kelsey Jacko has said his community was left out of consultations for the national-interest designation, despite being situated in the oilsands region directly affected by the project.
The Assembly of First Nations has also flagged what it calls “many red flags” in the designation, saying the federal government appears to be predetermining outcomes and approving projects before meaningful consultation takes place. Carney has promised his major-projects agenda will not interfere with Canada's obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples — a commitment the court challenge will now test.
