The St’át’imc Chiefs Council says it will seek a federal court challenge to the Pacific Link pipeline and tanker project’s federal approval, citing lack of consultation and no impact assessment.
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The St’át’imc Chiefs Council says it is launching a federal court challenge against the federal government’s approval of the Pacific Link crude oil pipeline and tanker project near Lillooet.
In a statement Monday, council chairperson Kúkwpi7 Justin Kane said the proposed pipeline and tankers project will cross over 500 rivers and streams, including two new proposed Fraser River crossings, and is expected to double crude oil tanker traffic in the Salish Sea.
The council says the decision was made in an unlawful and unconstitutional manner and, in its view, did not include an impact assessment or consultation with the St’át’imc Nation as a whole.
Kane said the project’s approval threatens Fraser River salmon, fishing rights and the nation’s way of being, adding: “The threat of an oil spill affecting Fraser River salmon, our fishing rights and our way of being, is heinous. Yet this project was approved under the [act] without any impact assessment at all, and without any consultation with the St’át’imc Nation as a whole.”
St’át’imc Elder Kúkwpi7 Art Adolph said the council believes federal and provincial governments acted together with “a few industry and corporate elites,” describing them as “economic saviours.”
The council also raised concerns about how the project was approved amid deregulation, saying the federal government listed the pipeline under the Building Canada Act, which it says means the project was treated as meeting legal requirements under federal environmental laws including the Fisheries Act and the Species at Risk Act.
According to the council, in September 2026 the federal government removed pipelines from the list of projects that must be assessed under the Impact Assessment Act.
The project was designated as being in the “national interest,” and Prime Minister Mark Carney said approvals were announced Oct. 1, citing a global “energy crisis.”
The federal government said it also intends to expand the Roberts Bank terminal in Delta, and the pipeline is intended to supplement the existing Trans Mountain pipeline by shipping oil from Alberta to Asian markets.
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