Carney meets with Coastal First Nations after pipeline MOU with Alberta

Heiltsuk Nation Chief Marilyn Slett attends a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

On his way to meetings in Asia, Prime Minister Mark Carney stopped in Prince Rupert to meet with Coastal First Nations, a group of nine Indigenous bands on B.C.’s central and north coasts.

It’s a meeting many of the First Nations leaders hoped would have happened months ago—before the PM signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta, laying out the conditions for a potential new oil pipeline to the north coast.

Prior to the meeting, Carney tried to manage expectations.

“Today is not a day for big announcements. It is a day, as I say, for dialogue, for listening and working. There will be a time for coming back, with progress, particularly with respect to conservation,” he said to assembled media.

Conservation is exactly what Coastal First Nations wants to talk about.

For the First Nations that make up the organization, that means no new oil pipelines to the north coast, and no easing of the existing tanker ban in the area.

“We reiterated that there is no technology that can clean up an oil spill at sea, and that it would take just one spill to destroy our way of life,” Heiltsuk Nation Chief Marilyn Slett said after the meeting.

Rather than focusing on a new oil pipeline, the group wants to promote other economic activity in the region, including liquified natural gas export terminals and eco-tourism.

“Our coastal economy is already an important economic driver in this area, worth billions of dollars, and is continuing to grow exponentially,” said vice-president Gaagwiis, a member of the Haida Nation.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hopes to a have a pipeline proposal on the prime minister’s desk by June, and wants it approved by the time the leaves begin to change in the fall.

Coastal First Nations says it will use every tool available to stop construction if Carney pushes ahead with a north coast pipeline despite opposition.

“Going down those roads are not the roads that we choose,” said Slett. “Our determination around not supporting these types of projects and rejecting them is also consistent.”

Whether he approves a new pipeline or not, it would appear Carney is guaranteed to disappoint somebody.