“The Port Authority has previously stated that the dredging project is crucial to increase export capacity to overseas markets while supporting jobs and economic growth, and that federal approvals include extensive conditions intended to protect fish habitat and the environment.”
“A British Columbia ‘First Nation’ {Indian tribe/Band/extended family} says it has launched a legal challenge against a plan by the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority to dredge Burrard Inlet to make room for oil tankers with larger loads to operate.
“In a release, the Tsleil-Waututh ‘Nation’ {a ‘nation’ of 734 people} says it has filed for a judicial review, seeking to overturn the permits issued by the Port Authority to allow for the dredging to take place.
“The plan calls for the dredging along northern and southern edges of the navigation channel in Vancouver’s Burrard Inlet underneath the Second Narrows bridge, starting in September.
“The Port Authority said in June that it had received all federal permits to allow the dredging, which would open up room for more heavily-laden tankers to load up from the Trans Mountain pipeline. The Authority has said the operation would allow larger vessels such as Aframax-class tankers filling up at the Westridge Marine Terminal to “load more fully”.
“Currently, ‘Trans Mountain’ says on its website that such tankers are generally loaded to about 80% of capacity because that’s what the inlet’s depth could allow.
“The Tsleil-Waututh ‘Nation’ says while it understands the project’s importance for Canada’s trade needs, the approval process was “rushed” and did not address any of its concerns about the impacts of the operation — including the “risks of more fully-laden oil tankers traversing the inlet”.
“The ‘nation’ {sic} also says the existing cumulative impact of shipping in the inlet has already infringed on the Tsleil-Waututh to the point where community members cannot practice their way of life.
{How many of them actually do?}
“The statement says dredging to accommodate larger tankers brings with it changes in marine shipping patterns, oil spill risk and shoreline erosion, all of which would add to the already damaging existing cumulative impacts.
“Tsleil-Waututh has a sacred stewardship obligation, a responsibility to care for ‘our’ lands, air and waters”,
Chief Justin George says in the statement.
“While we attempted to resolve these outstanding issues in good faith, our concerns were ignored, leaving us no choice but to go to court to protect ‘our territory’ {?} and interests.”
{The Tsleil-Waututh ‘Nation’ has not yet proven their Aboriginal title in court, as required by the Supreme Court of Canada.}
“Prime Minister Mark Carney first floated the idea of dredging Burrard Inlet in the spring 2025, but the most recent federal budget does not include any specific references to the project, beyond promises to “improve access” to overseas markets by investing in new airport, railway and port infrastructure.
“B.C.’s government also supports the project, and Energy Minister Adrian Dix said last year that the federal project “would allow for less traffic at the port and better utilization” because ships could fully load.
“The Port says the work will not change the number or size of the largest vessel type currently sailing underneath the Second Narrows, noting that Aframax-class tankers will remain the largest vessels.
“The dredging comes about two years after the expanded ‘TMX’ pipeline started operating in May 2024 and there have been calls to expand it again to help diversify energy exports away from the United States during recent trade friction.
“A background document from the agency has said that dredging would remove about 25,000 cubic metres of material while digging to a maximum depth of about six metres below the sea floor.”
–‘B.C. First Nation challenges dredging plan to accommodate larger tankers in Vancouver’,
Canadian Press, July 09, 2026
“The court action comes about two weeks after the Port Authority announced it had secured the federal government’s green light to proceed with the project, which is intended to increase shipping capacity and allow oil tankers serving the ‘Trans Mountain’ pipeline’s Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby to leave more fully loaded.
“But on Wednesday, the ‘First Nation’ filed a judicial review application in Federal Court challenging both the port authority’s permit for the project and the federal “Fisheries Act” authorization issued by Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Moreover, the ‘First Nation’ is not only challenging the dredging work, but also the end result of enabling more oil to be shipped out in tankers…
“The Port Authority has previously stated that the dredging project is crucial to increase export capacity to overseas markets while supporting jobs and economic growth, and that federal approvals include extensive conditions intended to protect fish habitat and the environment.
…
“The work is expected to extract a mixture of sand, gravel, cobble, boulder, and sandstone materials from the seafloor of Burrard Inlet. Most of the dredging will occur to a depth of about 1.3 metres below the seafloor, and a few sections will reach a maximum depth of about six metres below the seafloor. Approximately 25,000 cubic metres of material will be removed by the dredging project — equivalent to about 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools or under one per cent of the material removed annually by the port authority’s regular maintenance dredging work for the Fraser River.
{Which the tribe has never protested…}
“The ‘First Nation’s position also appears to conflict with the direction of the federal and provincial governments through the “Canada-British Columbia Cooperative Prosperity Agreement”. In addition to supporting the construction of a new oil export pipeline from Alberta to Metro Vancouver, the agreement contemplates increasing the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline’s capacity from 890,000 barrels per day to about 1.19 million barrels per day through operational optimizations.”
–‘First Nation files court challenge against Burrard Inlet dredging project for oil tankers’,
Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive, July 10 2026
See also:
‘Non-Existent ‘First Nation’ Gets B.C. Court To Stop Mine’ {June 25, 2026}:
“A tiny activist group of about 50 members of Tsetsaut Skii km Lax Ha, just cost BC $30 billion in potential GDP and $7 billion in provincial tax revenue by tying up the KSM mine in court, despite full benefit agreements with the much larger Nisga’a and Tahltan ‘Nations’, who actually support it.”
“Earlier this month, a B.C. court decided to cancel the official go-ahead to construct a gold mine in the north of the province because a few dozen ‘Indigenous’ people weren’t, in its view, adequately consulted.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2026/06/25/non-existent-first-nation-gets-b-c-court-to-stop-mine/
‘Mining Company Screwed by B.C. Government’ (Canadian Gold Ventures Inc./Gitxaala) {June 19, 2026}:
“If this what the government considers ‘Indigenous’ reconciliation, then every investor in B.C. faces grave risk. The Province specifically asked us to step in and rescue this mine – we invested millions, began the necessary work of cleaning up someone else’s environmental mess, and created real economic value for British Columbia. In return, the Province negotiated away our property rights in a backroom deal without involving us or even telling us. That is not how a government should treat investors.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2026/06/19/mining-company-screwed-by-b-c-government/
‘In Case You Missed It – No Aboriginal Veto, Says Supreme Court’ (Resource Veto) {Dec.6, 2025}:
“Two Supreme Court of Canada decisions made it abundantly clear that, while the federal government has a duty to consult, that does not mean that ‘First Nations’ can veto a project. This week, just days after the new NDP government said it would work to implement a declaration that ostensibly gives ‘First Nations’ {Indian tribes} in B.C. a veto over projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled no such veto exists.”
https://endracebasedlaw.ca/2025/12/06/in-case-you-missed-it-no-aboriginal-veto-says-supreme-court/
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