Carneys Major Projects Office already under fire from First Nations, environmental groups

A slew of First Nations and environmental organizations in British Columbia have issued a news release slamming Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Major Federal Projects Office (MPO) launched today. The groups say the office is “a continuation of a failed strategy that risks sidelining Indigenous rights” and weakens environmental protections. They also say it puts “corporate timelines ahead of communities.” The MPO is to be headquartered in Calgary and the government says it will have offices in other major cities. The office will be headed up by former Trans Mountain CEO Dawn Farrell. It’s the next step in the Carney government’s Building Canada Act, which Parliament passed in June as a response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods. Designed to enable “the government to streamline federal approval processes to get major projects built faster,” the legislation has drawn the ire of First Nations and other Indigenous groups who say the legislation poses a threat to the environment and Indigenous-owned lands. While Ottawa claims the office will accelerate approvals and create jobs, Indigenous leaders and non-governmental organizations warn the approach cuts corners on “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” (FPIC) and undermines Canada’s commitments to climate action and reconciliation. Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, is among those slamming the new office. “The opening of the Major Federal Projects Office under the guise of national interest, is nothing short of the government deliberately sidestepping its duty to consult and cooperate with First Nations,” Phillip said in a news release. “The messaging from the Prime Minister has felt less like an invitation to partnership and more like an ultimatum: get on board or get out of the way,” the statement added. “First Nations aren’t opposed to responsible development – we’re opposed to having our inherent and constitutional rights ignored. We continue to demand that the Federal government honour its reconciliation and environmental promises and withdraw these major project bills so that proper, principled solutions can be built together.” Others who are critical and added their names to the news release include Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, the David Suzuki Foundation, the Sierra Club of B.C. and the Georgia Strait Alliance. “Canada cannot pick and choose when to respect its own Constitution,” said Jesse Stoepler, deputy chief of the Hagwilget Village Council, in a release. “By rushing projects through a fast-track office built for industry, the government is eroding its duty to consult, weakening environmental protections, and silencing the very communities who will bear the consequences. “That’s not reconciliation, it’s exploitation.” The groups say in the release the federal government’s Bill C-5 and various provincial pieces of legislation risk overriding Indigenous decision making, despite a constitutional duty to consult, and the adoption of the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples which requires Free, Prior and Informed Consent. But, in a bid to assuage those concerns, the new MPO “will benefit from the expert advice of an Indigenous Advisory Council,” according to the federal government. It says the membership of the council will be confirmed next month and “will be comprised of representatives from First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and Modern Treaty and Self-Governing partners.” Continue Reading