Add StudioX as a preferred source on GoogleCheam First Nation has asked the Federal Court to set aside Ottawa’s decision to fast-track the proposed Pacific Link oil pipeline, alleging the federal government did not provide enough information for the Nation to assess potential impacts on its rights before the project received national-interest status.
Reuters reported Monday, November 2, that Cheam First Nation filed its application on Friday, October 30. The Nation alleges that consultations before the October 1 designation were constitutionally inadequate and that it lacked sufficient project information to evaluate the potential effects on its rights.
The application adds a British Columbia First Nation to the legal opposition to Pacific Link. It follows an earlier Federal Court challenge by Alberta’s Cold Lake First Nations, which filed for judicial review on October 7 over its own concerns about consultation.
What Cheam is challenging
Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on October 1 that the proposed West Coast Oil Pipeline, now called Pacific Link, had been listed as a project of national interest under the Building Canada Act. The designation allows the proposal to move through a single federal regulatory review process.
According to Reuters, Cheam First Nation is asking the court to set aside that designation. The Nation’s position, as reported by Reuters, is that the government moved ahead without giving it enough information to assess how the project could affect its rights and without constitutionally adequate consultation.
Those are allegations in a court application, not findings by a judge. No ruling on Cheam’s challenge was reported on Monday. StudioX has not independently obtained the application itself; the details of the filing in this report are attributed to Reuters.
Ottawa says consultation will continue through the review
In its October 1 announcement, the federal government said the Major Projects Office had consulted more than 130 Indigenous communities near or along potential routes in Alberta and British Columbia before the designation. Ottawa also said Indigenous consultation would continue during the federal review and the preparation of a conditions document.
The government’s stated target is to finalize that document by September 1, 2027. It says the process will address ownership, benefits, Indigenous rights, environmental protections, local hiring and oversight. Ottawa has also said Indigenous communities will be offered a minimum 10 per cent ownership interest in the project, financed through federal and Alberta loan-guarantee programs.
The federal government says Pacific Link is intended to carry an additional one million barrels of oil a day to the West Coast. Those are project plans and government projections, not evidence that the pipeline has received all final approvals or that construction is assured.
The final route has not been settled
Cheam First Nation is based near Rosedale in the Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver. The British Columbia Assembly of First Nations lists the Nation’s reserve lands and administrative address in Rosedale.
The project proponent says the final pipeline route will be informed by consultation with Indigenous groups, landowners and potentially affected communities. Its published timeline says engagement on the final route is continuing through October to December 2026, with further work involving local governments planned for the fall and early winter of 2027.
The sources reviewed for this report do not establish that the final pipeline route would cross Cheam reserve lands. The legal issue reported by Reuters is the Nation’s challenge to the federal designation and the consultation process. The route remains under development.
A second First Nation court challenge
Cold Lake First Nations in Alberta filed an earlier judicial-review application challenging the same national-interest designation. Its application raised concerns about consultation before the decision and the potential relationship between Pacific Link and the separate Pathways carbon-capture project.
The two applications raise questions about how Ottawa must consult Indigenous rights holders before using the new fast-track framework, and how that duty will be carried through the project’s later regulatory review. The court has not yet ruled on the merits of Cheam’s application.
Sources: Reuters, November 2, 2026; Prime Minister of Canada, October 1, 2026; B.C. Assembly of First Nations — Cheam First Nation; Pacific Link project timeline; The Canadian Press via Global News, October 8, 2026. For background, see StudioX News’ October 1 report on the Pacific Link designation.
Harnaik Singh Rathor is the Founder, Publisher, and Editor-in-Chief of StudioX News Canada, Canada's multilingual digital news network serving multilingual diaspora communities across Canada. With a background in media production, public relations, and multicultural communications, he founded StudioX Film and TV Corporation to bridge the gap between mainstream Canadian media and the country's diverse immigrant communities. He is a member of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), RTDNA Canada, CPRS Vancouver, NEPMCC, and the Canadian Freelance Union (Unifor). Based in Surrey, British Columbia. | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harnaiksinghrathor/ | Muck Rack: https://muckrack.com/harnaiksinghrathor | Email: editor@studioxnews.ca
