‘There is anger in our community’: Coldwater Indian Band denounces lack of consultation over new Pacific Link pipeline

The Coldwater Indian Band is voicing its opposition to the new Pacific Link pipeline, which on Thursday (Oct. 1) was deemed to be in the national interest under the Building Canada Act.

In a news release, the Coldwater Indian Band said hundreds of kilometres of the pipeline will cross Nlaka’pamux territory just outside of Merritt, and it notes the approval subjects the project to “unspecified conditions that Canada intends to finalize over the next year.”

The band also noted while this designation follows a three-month consultation process, Coldwater was subject to evacuation orders and alerts due to the Ainslie Creek fire in two of those three months. It also claims requests to extend the consultation process were not responded to.

“There is anger in our community today, as we hear that Canada has given the green light to a third Trans Mountain pipeline through the Coldwater Valley,” Vice-Chief Michael Smithers said. “The Crown’s duty to consult and accommodate Coldwater remains unfilled and Canada and Trans Mountain are not legally or respectfully operating in our reserve.”

“This morning, the Prime Minister said Canada has to do things differently, but when it comes to our concerns and our rights it’s more of the same – delay, not the speed and certainty he provides the private sector.”

In 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered Canada to consider modernized terms for the use of Coldwater’s reserve, consistent with the minister’s fiduciary obligations to the community, but the band said the federal government has yet to modernize terms of use.

“The urgency Canada shows to move major projects forward and overhaul the regulatory scheme to make it happen does not seem to apply when it comes to our community,” Smithers said. “Canada is not moving with urgency to resolve Trans Mountain’s authorized use of our reserve by their first pipeline nor is their urgency to grapple with concerns about impacts from a third pipeline before it was approved today.”

The original pipeline bisects Coldwater’s primary residential reserve and the band notes it has been the subject of a long-standing dispute. The first expansion, which was completed in 2024, had to be rerouted to avoid the community’s aquifer following a lengthy court battle.

In announcing Thursday’s designation, the federal government said the goal is to get consultations, environmental safeguards, financing and Indigenous partnerships completed by Sept. 1, 2027, so construction can begin.

The Coldwater Indian Band will spend the coming weeks to consider whether it will use the courts, or any other action, to respond to the pipeline being designated in the national interest.

“The listing decision effectively approves the pipeline subject to conditions to be worked out over the next twelve months but closes the door to any possibility that the project shouldn’t be built because of impacts on our rights or its failure to advance our interests,” Smithers said, noting the community has been ravaged by climate emergencies including the 2021 atmospheric river and wildfires.

“These impacts compound with harms from existing development and raise a serious question about whether our territory, our valley, and our rights can survive the impact of another major pipeline. Canada has chosen to shut the door to that conversation without even assessing the impacts or alternatives. That’s not right, and it is not what the constitution requires.”

In the statement, Smithers said he doesn’t understand how the federal government can commit to rigorous consultation and building projects in partnership with Indigenous communities “when they haven’t dealt with their existing obligations yet and don’t seem to be listening to our concerns.”

“We’d like the Prime Minister to know that we are for Canada showing up and fulfilling their constitutional obligations,” Smithers said. “And I can tell you, that is not happening on our reserve or in our territory – there is unfinished business that needs to be dealt with.”