The Canadian Federal Court of Appeal rules in favor of BC First Nations against the Trans Mountain (Kinder Morgan) tar sands expansion pipeline! “In effect, the Court has halted construction of the 1,150-kilometre project indefinitely."

GRATITUDE to Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation and other First Nations and all protectors everywhere! When we fight, we win! YEHOW!

Watch Pull Together's press conference on Breaking News: https://bit.ly/2Pm4jUh

Read the Canada National Observer article by Mike De Souza & Carl Meyer, August 30, 2018. https://bit.ly/2PRFq43

Court Quashes Trudeau's Approval of Trans Mountain Pipeline

The Federal Court of Appeal has quashed the federal government’s approval of the troubled Trans Mountain expansion project, after concluding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet made its decision without considering all evidence and failing in its legal duty to consult First Nations.

The decision, announced Aug. 30, is the first major court defeat for the project, requiring the government to ask the federal energy regulator or its successor to redo a federal environmental evaluation and correct a “critical” mistake it made to ignore the consequences of increased oil tanker traffic off the coast of British Columbia.

"Canada was obliged to do more than passively hear and receive the real concerns of the Indigenous applicants," wrote Justice Eleanor Dawson in a unanimous ruling that quashed the Trudeau government's approval of the Trans Mountain expansion project.
 
The unanimous decision by a three member panel that heard the case will also require the Trudeau government to restart its consultations with First Nations about the project, before construction can proceed.

The ruling confirms longstanding criticism from affected First Nations that the Trudeau government took a "paternalistic," "unrealistic," and "inadequate" approach to consulting them, failing in its legal duty under the Constitution. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation, which occupies unceded territories in what is now known as the Burrard Inlet in the Vancouver region, and other affected First Nations launched the case almost immediately after the Trudeau government approved the project in November 2016. 

Conservationists have also warned that the project threatens the survival of a few dozen southern resident killer whales that were already at risk, a concern that was acknowledged by the National Energy Board (NEB), following public hearings to review the pipeline expansion.

'We are Winning': Several B.C. First Nations Celebrate Trans Mountain Victory: https://bit.ly/2LGVgev

Link to Court Decision: https://bit.ly/2NyP0qV