Legal onslaught highlights review weakness: NDP MP
The Canadian environmental assessment process is flawed, according to a B.C. opposition MP who points to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline as his prime exhibit.
Skeena-Bulkley Valley NDP MP Nathan Cullen cited the 10 confirmed applications for a judicial review of the Joint Review Panel report on the pipeline as evidence that the system used to examine large resource projects is broken.
"My ultimate hope is that we have a better system for making decisions in this country that don't lead to lawsuits," Cullen said Thursday during a conference call with regional media.
Last month, a three-member panel recommended that the federal government approve the dual bitumen and condensate pipelines from northern Alberta to B.C.'s north coast, subject to more than 200 conditions. While the federal cabinet mulls over the report, at least 10 groups have asked the federal court to intervene and review the findings.
While all the applications are different, they can largely be divided into two categories. First Nations groups have filed applications arguing that proper consultation hasn't been done and environmental groups have submitted their own lawsuits citing inadequacies of evidence during the three-year process.
Federal court judicial reviews can generally take anywhere from a year to 18 months to work through the system and that's before appeals court processes are factored in.
Other First Nations groups have yet to file lawsuits, but have pledged to do so if the federal government approves the pipeline.
"They're going to be very expensive lawsuits for the Canadian taxpayer," Cullen said. "Yet aboriginal people have to stand up for their right and title, which has been proven time and again in the Supreme Court."
Cullen, who has long opposed the Northern Gateway project and who acted as an intervener during the environmental assessment hearings, said he believes the First Nations groups have strong grounds for their judicial review applications.
"Obviously the First Nations feel that this is not a true consultative process and accommodation hasn't been made," he said. "That has been a principle that's been proven in the Supreme Court of Canada a number of times and one would imagine that those legal cases would be made quite strongly and these are from some very, very credible First Nations like the Haisla and the Gitga'at who have been through this before, understand the law very well and are in favour of development but on terms that sit with the culture and values very well."
Under federal legislation, the cabinet has a 180-day window to review the panel's report and decide whether or not it should issue a certificate to allow Northern Gateway to proceed with detailed design and construction.