First Nations opposed to Trans Mountain Pipeline set to give final arguments

METRO VANCOUVER -- As the federal review of Kinder Morgan’s $6.8-billion Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion nears its end, at least a dozen First Nations continue to say the review is flawed, and they oppose the project over its potential environmental effects.

Those effects, they say, include the risk of tanker spills in Burrard Inlet.

Barring intervention in the review process by the new federal government under Justin Trudeau, these First Nations are prepared to take their fight to the courts.

That would set the stage for a legal battle already playing out with another oil pipeline in B.C. — Enbridge’s proposed $7.9-billion Northern Gateway project.

“We are prepared and we are going to rely on the Canadian constitution to protect our indigenous rights. ... We are relying on the courts,” says Ruben George of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation.