The B.C. government has just approved the Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, which will produce up to 12 million tonnes of LNG annually by 2028. 

Ksi Lisims LNG — pronounced s’lisims, meaning “from the Nass River” in the Nisg̱a’a language — is a joint venture involving the Nisga’a Lisims Government, Canadian natural gas consortium Rockies LNG and Western LNG, a U.S.-based LNG project developer. 

Located at the north end of Pearse Island, close to the Alaska border, the facility will be the second largest LNG producer in B.C., nearly matching the 14-million-tonne production capacity of the first phase of the LNG Canada export terminal, which began shipping LNG to Asia this year. 

In their reasons for decision, posted publicly on Sept. 15, B.C. ministers of environment and energy, Tamara Davidson and Adrian Dix, said they were approving the new LNG project despite not receiving consent from nearly half of the First Nations who participated in the environmental assessment process.

“We recognize that LNG facilities, along with natural gas pipelines, electrical transmission lines … and other development in the area has deeply affected Indigenous communities and ways of life, and that Ksi Lisims LNG will contribute to the cumulative effects on ecosystems and communities in the region,” they wrote.

However, they concluded the Ksi Lisims project would “constitute economic reconciliation and an exercise of self-determination for Nisga’a Nation” and provide “direct and indirect economic opportunities for First Nations in the region and for British Columbia.”

LNG exported from Ksi Lisims will primarily be sent overseas to countries like Japan and South Korea, where the gas will be burned to produce heat and electricity.

In approving the project, the ministers noted Ksi Lisims will be bound to 23 conditions, including a greenhouse gas emissions plan in line with B.C.’s net-zero policy. However, they noted the project is expected to have “significant adverse effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the use of natural gas-fired power barges used to electrify the project prior to connection to the BC Hydro electrical grid.” It is unclear how or when the project would be electrified.

Western LNG and the Nisga’a government also own Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT), an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline that will cross more than 1,000 waterways on its route to supply Ksi Lisims LNG. The pipeline was greenlit by the province’s environmental assessment office in June, paving the way for construction to continue this summer, more than a decade after the project was first proposed. 

“Ksi Lisims LNG represents a transformational opportunity for all participating B.C. nations, and it will be developed in line with our nation’s high environmental standards,” Eva Clayton, president of the Nisga’a government said in a statement. “This is what reconciliation looks like: a modern Treaty Nation once on the sidelines of our economy, now leading a project that will help write the next chapter of a stronger, more resilient Canada.”

Some First Nations consulted on Ksi Lisims LNG did not give consent

For the Nisg̱a’a, Ksi Lisims is a development opportunity that will benefit Nisga’a communities, the province and the Canadian economy, but other First Nations oppose the project. 

The Lax Kw’alaams band, for example, says the LNG facility would negatively affect its traditional territory and has expressed concerns about the project’s potential impact on B.C.’s ability to meet its climate targets. Lax Kw’alaams is southwest of the newly approved LNG facility and tankers filled with the liquefied gas will pass by the village regularly.

The environmental assessment office announced earlier this month that it had concluded dispute resolution processes initiated by Lax Kw’alaams and the Metlakatla First Nation as part of Ksi Lisims’ environmental assessment — despite failing to address the First Nations’ concerns about the project’s potential impacts on their communities.

The project also faced a legal challenge filed by the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs in October 2024. The chiefs submitted an application for judicial review to the B.C. Supreme Court, alleging B.C.’s environmental assessment office failed in its duty to consult and is negligent in its obligations to protect fish species when it concluded the project does not pose a threat to Nass River salmon populations.

“This project threatens our food security and government has denied Gitanyow a role in decision making,” Simogyet (Hereditary Chief) Malii Glen Williams said in a statement at the time.

The challenge was rejected by the court in early September. 

Naxginkw Tara Marsden, Wilp Sustainability director with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, said the approval puts B.C. on a dangerous path. 

“It’s hard to believe that we’re moving ahead in B.C. with climate-destroying LNG projects in the midst of a climate crisis,” Naxginkw said in a statement provided to The Narwhal. “Greenlighting LNG projects is part of a trend in the wrong direction.”

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By early September, B.C. politicians will decide the fate of the province’s next big LNG venture. 

According to an announcement quietly posted on a provincial government website last week, the Ksi Lisims LNG environmental assessment was completed on Aug. 7 and referred to B.C.’s ministers of environment and energy for a final decision. The ministers — Tamara Davidson and Adrian Dix, respectively — were given 30 days to decide whether or not to approve the major fossil fuel development.

Ksi Lisims LNG is a proposed floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, which would be built on the B.C.-Alaska border about 100 kilometres north of Prince Rupert. Backed by the Nisg̱a’a government and Texas-based Western LNG, it would be supplied by the contested Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline, an 800-kilometre project that will cross more than 1,000 waterways and dozens of First Nations’ territories.

B.C.’s natural gas export industry kicked off this summer when LNG Canada started operations in Kitimat. That facility, supplied by the controversial Coastal GasLink pipeline, is the first major liquefaction and export project built in Canada. If built, Ksi Lisims LNG would be capable of producing 12 million tonnes of LNG annually, nearly as much as LNG Canada will produce initially.

The announcement noted the federal government will also review the assessment and “a package of materials to support the federal decision” that have been sent to the impact agency, which reviews major projects for compliance with Canada’s Impact Assessment Act. 

On the same day it referred the Ksi Lisims LNG project for a decision, the environmental assessment office declined requests from Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams First Nations for dispute resolution processes. Both nations had previously entered into dispute resolution with the province but neither were able to reach agreement. (Another First Nation, Gitga’at, had also entered into the process but withdrew before completing.)

In near-identical letters sent to each nation on Aug. 7, Julie Chace, a senior official with the environmental assessment office, noted the office would not facilitate additional dispute resolution.

“I do not consider it necessary or reasonable for the [Environmental Assessment Office] and Metlakatla to participate in another facilitated [dispute resolution] process,” she wrote in one of the two letters. “Dispute resolution is a tool to help resolve substantial disagreements as a next step to reach consensus if parties are unable to reach consensus on their own.”

Chace added she took under consideration a request from Ksi Lisims LNG that the office refer the project for decision “without further delay.” 

That request, which was submitted in a letter dated July 29, was written by the Texas company’s president and CEO, Davis Thames. In it, he urged the office to reject the requests and wrote “there is no prospect of achieving consensus in a further facilitated dispute resolution over matters that have already been addressed.” Thames added the nations “will have an opportunity to raise their outstanding concerns in a meeting with the ministers during the 30-day decision-making phase.”

Chace’s letters echoed the wording used by the industry executive. 

“Metlakatla’s outstanding concerns and lack of consent regarding the project and sustainability recommendation may be presented directly to the ministers at this meeting, following referral and prior to their decision,” she wrote.

Neither Metlakatla nor Lax Kw’alaams were able to provide comment prior to publication. The B.C. government did not comment prior to publication.

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The British Columbia government gave a green light to an 800-kilometre natural gas pipeline on Thursday, paving the way for construction to start — and setting the stage for what one First Nations leader warns could be a “long, hot summer” of conflict. 

The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline will carry gas from northeast B.C. to the proposed Ksi Lisims gas liquefaction and export facility on the northwest coast near the Alaska border, crossing more than 1,000 waterways, including major salmon-bearing rivers and tributaries. 

In a press release, the BC Environmental Assessment Office gave the project a “substantially started” designation, locking in its original environmental approval indefinitely. That original approval — for the pipeline to end in Prince Rupert, B.C — was granted in 2014 and expired last November. The assessment office said enough construction occurred before the expiry date to earn it the designation, even though the pipeline’s new route takes it to a different location.

The decision to deem the pipeline substantially started was authored by Alex MacLennan, chief executive assessment officer and deputy energy minister. 

In a report outlining the reasons for the decision, MacLennan acknowledged that First Nations, including the Gitxsan Wilps, raised a range of concerns about the project, including the impact of greenhouse gas emissions and uncertainty about the pipeline’s final route. The assessment office is currently considering two requests from the proponents to change the pipeline’s route to serve the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG facility.

“Though I recognize that this provides some uncertainty regarding the final route of the project, the significant investment in, and pursuit of, the amendments indicate to me that PRGT Ltd. continues to invest in the project and is committed to the project being completed,” MacLennan wrote. “As for concerns regarding greenhouse gas emissions, this matter is not relevant to the substantial start determination.”

The Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government and Texas-based Western LNG are partnering to build the pipeline, after buying it from Calgary-based TC Energy last year. (TC Energy is the company behind the contentious Coastal GasLink pipeline, which saw protracted conflict during construction that led to more than 80 arrests of land defenders, observers and journalists.)

In a statement jointly written with Western LNG, Eva Clayton, president of the Nisg̱a’a government, said: “This is an important step—not just for PRGT, but for the Nisg̱a’a Nation’s vision of self-determination and long-term prosperity.”

While the Nisg̱a’a government has stated the project provides much-needed economic benefits to its citizens, other affected First Nations, including leaders in neighbouring Gitanyow and Gitxsan territories, have voiced their opposition and argue the PRGT pipeline will negatively impact lands and waters and populations of fish and wildlife.

In a statement, Simooget (Chief) Watakhayetsxw Deborah Good said the decision “isn’t the end of the story.” Watakhayetsxw was one of the Gitanyow Chiefs who set up a blockade last August when pipeline construction started, barring any industry-related traffic from passing through. 

“We’ll continue to fight to protect our territory (Lax’yip) with all actions needed, in the courts and on the ground,” she said. “From August to November 2024, we denied access for PRGT pipeline construction and we’ll be continuing our efforts to ensure no construction happens on our territory,” she said.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said approving the pipeline directly contradicts the government’s stated commitment to upholding Indigenous Rights, which was passed into law in 2019 with B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. 

“There are First Nations who have very loudly stated their opposition to this pipeline and they will continue to do so,” Phillip said in a statement. “The Declaration Act and interim approach are being tossed out the window. This is not a government who believes in reconciliation and it could trigger a long, hot summer.”

PRGT decision ‘makes a mockery’ of substantial start designation

Naxginkw Tara Marsden, Wilp Sustainability Director with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, questioned whether the project met criteria for the substantial start decision. 

While the definition of a substantial start is somewhat vague, the essence of the designation is an acknowledgement a project proponent has put in a significant amount of work to get a project going. The work done on the PRGT pipeline mainly consisted of clearing forest from a short section of the 800-kilometre route on Nisg̱a’a lands.

“This decision makes a mockery of the true purpose and intent of what is considered to be a ‘substantial start’ for major infrastructure projects,” Naxginkw said in a statement. “It leaves us asking, ‘Why does the government have processes if it doesn’t intend to follow them and continues to exclude concerns raised by impacted First Nations?’ ”

The pipeline and associated liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, Ksi Lisims LNG, are the subject of three lawsuits by Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and groups, including a legal challenge launched by Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.

“Our livelihoods depend on healthy and abundant sockeye from the Nass and Skeena rivers,” Naxginkw said. “This pipeline would cut across some of the healthiest intact salmon watersheds left in B.C.”

Naxginkw previously told The Narwhal the conflict over the pipeline is pitting nation against nation, which she said is a distraction from the real issue.

“We’re stuck in this cycle of people only paying attention when it’s that really heated, race-based conflict and the fact that this is nation to nation is even juicier,” she explained. “But that’s not the story — the story is the climate is going to kill us all.”

Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for its short-term warming impact on the planet. At every step of the process of extracting the fossil fuel for energy production — including at wellheads, along the pipeline and during the liquefaction, shipping, regasification and combustion processes — adds more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, intensifying the effects of climate change.

When built, the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline will be able to transport 3.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.

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A coalition of Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups is taking the BC Energy Regulator to court this week, claiming the regulator bent its own rules to green-light construction of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline. 

Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, Kispiox (Anspayaxw) band — a Gitxsan Nation elected government — and Kispiox Valley Community Association allege clearing work for the 800-kilometre pipeline began last August before a legally required assessment of the health of the land, water and wildlife was conducted. The pipeline will supply the planned Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project.

A four-day B.C. Supreme Court hearing begins tomorrow in Vancouver, after the groups filed for a judicial review last August.

“We have followed this project for over a decade now because it goes through some of the most critical salmon habitat [in the province],” Shannon McPhail, co-executive director of Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, told The Narwhal in an interview. “It’s going to impact water, it’s going to impact communities — all of these different issues were supposed to be assessed in a cumulative effects assessment.”

The groups, represented by the environmental law charity Ecojustice, are arguing the BC Energy Regulator, a government agency largely funded by the oil and gas industry, changed the pipeline’s permit conditions to allow preliminary construction even though an assessment of the project’s entire footprint hadn’t been conducted. 

In an emailed response to questions, the BC Energy Regulator said, “These matters are currently the subject of court proceedings and the BC Energy Regulator’s position is recorded in our submissions.”

The pipeline will run from Treaty 8 nations’ territories in northeast B.C. to the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG terminal near the mouth of the Nass River and the Alaska border. It will cross more than 1,000 waterways, including major salmon-bearing rivers and tributaries. Until last year, when the route was changed, the pipeline was slated to terminate in Prince Rupert, B.C. 

The pipeline, formerly owned by TC Energy, the Calgary-based company that built the controversial Coastal GasLink pipeline, was originally approved in 2014. In 2019, the B.C. government granted TC Energy a five-year extension to its environmental assessment certificate, which was set to expire. 

In mid-2024, TC Energy sold the pipeline project to Texas-based Western LNG and the Nisg̱a’a Lisims Government. The Nisg̱a’a government and Western LNG also co-own the Ksi Lisims LNG export project which is currently undergoing an environmental assessment.

The pipeline’s environmental assessment certificate expired last November, which meant Western LNG and the Nisg̱a’a government had a limited window to get enough work done to secure a “substantially started” designation and lock in the project’s approval indefinitely. B.C. Environment Minister Tamara Davidson is expected to announce sometime this spring whether the government deems the PRGT pipeline is substantially started. 

The expiring environmental assessment was likely behind the haste, McPhail said. “So they were moving faster than they probably would have liked and as a result, what seems to have happened is that they missed a few of the steps.”

Kolin Sutherland Wilson, Kispiox band chief councillor, said in a statement the groups are in court because the decision to start building the pipeline “was not only hasty but also skirted legal requirements.” He said the regulator “ignored the broader impacts by using outdated information and only focusing on small sections of the project.”

The BC Energy Regulator previously told The Narwhal an effects assessment for a small section of the pipeline, known as section 5b, “was completed by the Nisg̱a’a Nation, with respect to cumulative effects on Nisg̱a’a Lands.” The regulator said the requirement to conduct an assessment is isolated to each section of the pipeline for which permits were issued, meaning the proponent isn’t required to assess the entire project as a whole. 

McPhail said the regulator’s statement contradicts the purpose of a cumulative effects assessment, which provides a holistic look at the impacts of past development, ecosystem health and the potential impacts of a proposed project in the context of development that could take place in the future.  

“We are a resource extraction region,” she explained. “We’re good at it and there is a good way to do it and there are ways that you just don’t do it. The BC Energy Regulator seems to be exemplifying what you don’t do — and that is hurry things through important processes like a cumulative effects assessment.”

“It directly impacts me, it impacts my kids, my community, my family — not to mention water and land,” she added. “We are socializing the costs and privatizing the profits. I’m tired of these major industries making billions of dollars on the backs of Indigenous people and on the backs of communities who have made a living here.” 

Wilson called for a complete and up-to-date assessment that takes into account the “true scale of potential harm” to communities like Kispiox, located 15 kilometres from the pipeline. “It’s crucial to ensure the safety and well-being of our communities against the very real threat of climate change.”

Updated on March 24, 2025, at 4:39 p.m. PT. This story was updated to include comment from the BC Energy Regulator that was received following publication.

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As members of B.C. Premier David Eby’s new cabinet headed to their swearing-in ceremony on Nov. 18, they were greeted by about two dozen people chanting slogans and waving signs that said, “No new pipeline,” “Stop PRGT” and “Respect Gitxsan sovereignty.”

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While the demonstration outside Government House was small, it served as a reminder that tough decisions await B.C.’s new ministers responsible for the environment and resource extraction. 

The Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline is likely to be the first major project decision facing Tamara Davidson, B.C.’s new Minister of Environment and Parks. 

Davidson, the rookie MLA for North Coast-Haida Gwaii, is a member of the Haida Nation and the province’s first Indigenous environment minister. She’s tasked with deciding whether or not to send the 800-kilometre PRGT pipeline back to the drawing board for a second environmental assessment following a major route change.  

Davidson is far from the only newly minted minister with big environmental and energy decisions ahead. 

All but one of the BC NDP cabinet members responsible for the environment and oversight of natural resource development are first-time ministers — and three are first-time MLAs.

Each new minister is tasked with tackling thorny policy issues, controversial resource extraction projects and high-profile legislation — from the PRGT pipeline and LNG export projects to mining reform, Indigenous Rights and the government’s commitment to help tackle the global biodiversity crisis by protecting 30 per cent of the province by 2030.

Eby’s marching orders to the ministers, known as mandate letters, won’t be public until early 2025. 

The premier, whose party squeaked back into power with a slim majority, said the mandate letters will be issued once the BC NDP’s negotiations with the BC Greens have concluded. “We’re in intense conversations with the Greens on how we can work with that party,” Eby told reporters after the new cabinet was sworn in, alluding to his party’s need to garner support from the two Green MLAs to bolster its chances of staying in power for the next four years. 

Who are the new ministers responsible for environmental and resource extraction oversight in B.C.? And what are some of the thorny decisions they will soon have to make? Read on.

Deciding the fate of the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline 

The PRGT pipeline will transport fracked gas from B.C.’s northeast to the proposed Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Pacific coast near the Alaska border. When the pipeline underwent an environmental assessment a decade ago, it was for a different route to a different LNG project. Despite the pipeline’s name, it will no longer go to Prince Rupert, B.C., but to the Nass estuary at the north end of Pearse Island.The area is the site of the proposed floating Ksi Lisims LNG export facility, which would be capable of producing up to 12 million tonnes of LNG annually — making it the second-largest LNG facility in B.C. after LNG Canada. Ksi Lisims, backed by the Nisg̱a’a Nation, is still undergoing a provincial environmental assessment and has not yet been approved by the B.C. government.

The PRGT pipeline was rerouted from its original destination via an amendment application filed with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office in June. Without the pipeline, Ksi Lisims would lack a gas supply, making the pipeline crucial to the project’s viability.

In late August, as pipeline construction work began on Nisg̱a’a territory, Hereditary Chiefs from Gitanyow Nation burned agreements and set up an on-going blockade to stop traffic related to the project from crossing their territory, which border Nisg̱a’a lands. The chiefs are among those who say they will take whatever action is necessary to stop the pipeline project.

By Nov. 25, enough physical work must be completed on the pipeline to meet the threshold to receive a “substantially started” designation from the province, which would lock in the 2014 environmental assessment certificate. If the project fails to meet the threshold, the proponents will be required to start the environmental assessment process from scratch.

While the technical work of assessing whether the project meets the “substantially started” designation will be done by the assessment office, Davidson — the first Haida Nation member elected provincially in B.C. — will be the face of the decision.

During the election campaign, the BC Greens said they supported letting PRGT’s environmental assessment certificate expire.

Overseeing the biggest fossil fuel boom in B.C.’s history

After seven years serving as B.C.’s health minister, longtime NDP MLA Adrian Dix now helms a revamped ministry called Energy and Climate Solutions. Dix will oversee the province’s electricity, alternative energy and oil and gas sectors. 

As minister, Dix will shepherd the biggest fossil fuel boom in B.C.’s history, as fracking operations intensify in the province’s northeast to supply the new LNG export sector with gas. While the BC NDP championed LNG during its previous two terms in government, the Greens oppose new LNG projects and want to phase out fracking operations.

Dix brings a wealth of cabinet experience to a file “critically important” for the province’s future, according to Eby. The former health minister is also tasked with ensuring B.C.’s energy policies align with its climate goals.

“The demand for clean electricity has never been higher, whether it’s because of [artificial intelligence] or hydrogen or existing operations like mining that want to decarbonize,” Eby told reporters after the swearing-in ceremony. “I need someone who can deliver and Adrian is that minister.”

In his new role, Dix will also be responsible for the Climate Action Secretariat — previously part of B.C.’s environment ministry — and guide efforts to achieve B.C.’s emission reduction targets while helping the province prepare for and adapt to climate change.

Asked by The Narwhal about the optics of overseeing both the fossil fuel sector and efforts to lower carbon emissions, Dix said it makes sense to take a holistic view of energy production and emissions reduction.

“I think it’s important to face these issues together and not in separate places,” he said during a media availability following the swearing-in ceremony.

Dix is also responsible for shepherding the new publicly funded North Coast transmission line, which would run from Prince George to Terrace. The $3-billion line would provide hydroelectricity for a range of industrial customers, including LNG Canada, Cedar LNG, the Port of Prince Rupert, hydrogen projects and new metal and critical minerals mines. B.C. wants federal taxpayers to cover half the cost.

Electricity for the high-voltage line would come in part from the publicly funded $16-billion Site C dam on B.C.’s Peace River. As The Narwhal previously reported, BC Hydro has suggested replacing an environmental assessment for the North Coast transmission line with a speedier “alternative streamlined process.”

“I think it’s very exciting work,” Dix said of his new responsibility for the transmission line, which will affect property owners, farmland, waterways and at-risk species. “[It’s] very important for economic development projects, but also for climate change … for jobs and clean energy.”

Making decisions about Mineral Tenure Act reform 

One big change in the new cabinet is that mining is no longer under the energy ministry’s umbrella. B.C.’s mining industry will now be overseen by a stand-alone ministry helmed by Surrey-Fleetwood MLA Jagrup Brar, who previously served as minister of state for trade. 

In his new role, Brar is set to introduce reforms to the Mineral Tenure Act. The law is likely to be one of the first pieces of legislation put forward in the spring session, following a decision by the B.C. Supreme Court ordering the province to overhaul its mineral claims system.

The ruling was the result of a legal challenge brought by the Gitxaała Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation, arguing B.C.’s system for assigning rights to minerals is based on a “colonial holdover,” which allowed claims to be made in their territories without consultation.  

The province’s existing online system allows almost anyone to make a mineral claim with a few clicks and a fee There is no duty to consult or notify relevant First Nations before making the claim or exploring the area with handheld tools. 

Brar will also oversee the next steps in B.C.’s critical minerals strategy. “Critical minerals” is a broad term that covers a range of materials needed to produce electronics, including cell phones and computers, wind turbines, solar panels and batteries — crucial components of the energy transition. 

According to the province, B.C. is home to deposits of 16 of Canada’s national list of 34 critical minerals. It is the only place in Canada to produce molybdenum, an element primarily used to improve steel alloys.

B.C. launched the first phase of its critical minerals strategy in January, aiming to streamline critical minerals projects and capitalizing on available federal funding. 

According to the province, 17 new critical minerals mines are proposed across B.C.

Reviewing the Fairy Creek deferral deadline and old-growth logging

Langford-Highlands MLA Ravi Parmar is the new forests minister, responsible for the province’s old-growth forests strategy and weighty decisions such as whether to extend the Fairy Creek old-growth logging deferrals.

Parmar will be in charge of delivering on the NDP’s campaign promise to finish implementing landmark recommendations from the 2020 old-growth forest strategic review, which called for a major shift in how B.C. manages its forests. Only two of the old-growth review’s 14 recommendations are at an advanced stage of implementation, according to a May update from the province, while nearly half were still in the “initial action” stage. 

The review resulted in logging deferrals in pockets of old-growth forest around the province, mostly with the support of local First Nations. That includes the Fairy Creek area in Pacheedaht First Nations territory. 

In 2021, the largely intact old-growth valley on the south west coast of Vancouver Island became the site of the largest civil disobedience action in Canadian history. Following the arrest of more than 1,100 people, and at the request of Pacheedaht First Nation, the B.C. government deferred just over 1,180 hectares of Fairy Creek old-growth forest from logging in June 2021.

That deferral expires on Feb. 1, 2025, putting Fairy Creek near the top of the list of decisions Parmar will have to make during his first months as minister.

Whether the order is extended or ended could hinge on the NDP’s negotiations with the Green Party caucus. During the campaign, the Greens platform included commitments to defer logging of at-risk old-growth forests and called for compensation for First Nations for any lost revenues due to logging deferrals.

Protecting 30 per cent of the province by 2030 

Following former minister Nathan Cullen’s election loss, Eby named first-time MLA Randene Neill as minister of water, land and resource stewardship. Neill, who represents the Powell River-Sunshine Coast riding, will be in charge of realizing the NDP’s commitment to protecting 30 per cent of the province’s land by 2030. 

B.C. plans to achieve the 2030 protection target partly by creating new Indigenous protected areas, according to Cullen’s 2022 mandate letter.

“Indigenous-led conservation through land-use planning processes is the way that we’ll achieve durable and diverse conservation,” Cullen told The Narwhal in an interview in May.

Under Cullen, the ministry began hosting discussions about land management with First Nations, local communities, municipal governments and industry. By May, work on new regional land-use plans was focused on prioritizing local ecosystem health and biodiversity and determining how economic activities — from logging and mining to farming and fishing — fit within those priorities. 

As Cullen’s successor, Neill is expected to oversee the completion of the new land-use plans. But she will not have to wade into the most contentious policy her predecessor faced: plans to amend the Land Act to better align the law with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, by creating a pathway for the province to make joint decisions with First Nations about public land use.

After abandoning plans to introduce the amendments this spring, Eby confirmed in October that his government would not re-introduce the proposed Land Act changes. He said the province needs to do a better job at communicating the benefits that come from partnerships with First Nations.

Implementing B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples 

The planned Land Act changes were part of a broader commitment to align provincial laws with the United Nations declaration, a key priority for B.C.’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. While the act received unanimous consent when it passed in the legislature in 2019, it has become contentious as the broader implications of its implementation become clearer. BC Conservatives Leader John Rustad promised to repeal the law if his party formed government following the Oct. 19 provincial election.

Even though the Land Act changes are off the table, making the path forward somewhat murky, the BC NDP government has promised to continue implementing the declaration. The party’s  campaign platform made multiple commitments to working with First Nations on policies that cross ministerial boundaries. Leading that effort is another new MLA: former Vancouver city councillor Christine Boyle.

Boyle, who succeeded former environment minister George Heyman to represent the urban Vancouver-Little Mountain riding, helped lead the effort to integrate the UN declaration into the City of Vancouver’s operations during her time on council.

“Our [team] is one of the most diverse the legislature has ever seen,” Boyle posted on BlueSky, commenting on the election of four Indigenous women, including Davidson, to the BC NDP caucus. “Getting to work to build a better province for everyone.” 

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The Bulkley Valley-Stikine electoral district — a 200,000 square kilometre area in northwest B.C. that is a hotbed of resource industries, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) export projects — has been a BC NDP stronghold for 15 years. For the first time in the riding’s history, it is now held by the BC Conservatives following the Oct. 19 provincial election that saw the NDP narrowly re-elected with a majority government following recounts. 

Nathan Cullen, former minister of water, land and resource stewardship, was unseated by BC Conservatives candidate Sharon Hartwell. 

“Together, we will tackle the challenges facing our families, from healthcare and education to the economy and public safety,” Hartwell wrote on social media following the election. “Your voices will guide my actions as I fight for the issues that affect your daily lives.”

Cullen, whose campaign was plagued by sign vandalism, including obscenities, violent images and the disappearance of about half his signs, served as federal MP for Skeena-Bulkley Valley from 2004 to 2019, before winning the provincial riding in 2020. This is his first defeat since entering politics more than two decades ago.

“It was a surprise in some ways,” Cullen told The Narwhal in an interview. “There was obviously a lot of resentment and frustration built up, especially in rural B.C.”

Cullen was the minister responsible for widely contested Land Act reforms, which would have enabled the B.C. government to more easily enter into agreements with First Nations to facilitate consent-based decisions and avoid costly litigation. The NDP government withdrew the proposed reforms — part of the province’s commitment to upholding Indigenous Rights — following an extreme backlash, including from BC Conservatives leader John Rustad, who called the proposed amendments an “assault” on private land rights.

‘Toxic and aggressive’ politics worrying: Nathan Cullen

Like many ridings, the Bulkley Valley-Stikine district was plagued with divisive politics during the election campaign.

“I think it was, overall, a dirty campaign,” Jason Morris, a senior instructor in the University of Northern British Columbia’s political science department, told The Narwhal. “Unfortunately, in this provincial election, there were too many examples of this poor behaviour targeting all of the parties.”

One of Cullen’s signs that was vandalized saw an image of his face hung by a noose from a makeshift gallows on the side of the highway. And, as The Tyee reported, a pickup truck waving a Canadian flag circled Cullen’s campaign office in Smithers and blasted its horn during his concession speech on election night.

Hartwell, who campaigned mostly on issues related to healthcare, did not respond to an interview request. She denounced the vandalism to Cullen’s signs on social media, noting, “this is not what we want to see in our communities.”

Earlier this year, Hartwell expressed support for a federal Conservative petition to have Canada withdraw from the United Nations, whose Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination previously singled out B.C.’s Site C dam and Coastal GasLink pipeline for criticism. Hartwell also suggested Canada withdraw from the World Health Organization, whose responsibilities include setting global guidelines for air quality, including for wildfire smoke. Her win comes as the U.S. heads into a tight presidential race — in February, Hartwell stated on social media she believes the 2020 U.S. election was rigged against former president Donald Trump. 

Roughly 2,000 more people voted in the riding this year compared to the 2020 election. Cullen attributed many of the additional votes to the “blue wave” that swept across the province this year. He said the tone of the BC Conservatives campaign had its origins with U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and has been widely used by federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.

“I don’t give Mr. Rustad the credit of original thought on this,” Cullen said. “I think this is known and observed and just imitated. I’ve watched Mr. Poilievre do it [and] I’ve watched Trump do it.”

Poilievre travelled to the Bulkley Valley-Stikine district in September 2023 and held rallies in towns across the northwest to drum up support for the Conservatives. Addressing a packed room in Smithers on that trip, Poilievre was met with cheers as he slammed the BC NDP government. 

“The NDP forgot about Smithers and Vancouver Island and the people in the working class resource communities across this country…,” Poilievre told the crowd.  

Neither Poilievre nor Rustad responded to requests for comment from The Narwhal.

Cullen said the tone of the campaign had a chilling effect in some northwest communities this election. 

“I was sometimes alarmed by the toxic and aggressive nature of some people in this campaign. I just haven’t really seen it before,” he said. “In talking to a number of folks, especially in communities that had lower turnout, especially in some First Nations communities, one of the things that I’ve been hearing very consistently is a sense of intimidation — that the conversation was quite harsh a lot of times and if you’re online, it was oftentimes violent and threatening.”

Cullen earned around 40 per cent of the riding’s votes, with Hartwell taking 52 per cent. Morris noted Hartwell, who served for 12 years as mayor of Telkwa, B.C., is not a rookie politician. But he said her win in the long-held NDP riding is no small feat. 

“She soundly defeated Nathan Cullen, which is impressive given Cullen’s federal experience in senior positions and as a leadership candidate there, and of course his provincial background, including in ministerial positions.” 

The region also had a BC Greens candidate this year, Gamlakyeltxw Wil Marsden, who took 588 votes, about six per cent. The remainder went to Rod Taylor, with the Christian Heritage party.

‘Pipeline politics’ helped make northwest B.C. an election battleground

Naxginkw Tara Marsden, a Gitanyow Nation member who works with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs, said the election results are likely to change peoples’ perceptions of the riding. 

“I think we lived under a cloud of perception for a while — that this was Nathan Cullen’s riding, that we were progressive and we were all about the environment and Indigenous Rights,” Marsden told The Narwhal. (Marsden and Gamlakyeltxw, the BC Greens candidate, are first cousins.) Gitanyow is one of several First Nations whose traditional lands are within the Bulkley-Stikine district. 

But despite that notion, she said the region has never been a haven for environmental protections. For example, she noted the NDP government oversaw construction of the controversial Coastal GasLink pipeline during Cullen’s leadership. As the pipeline was being built by Calgary-based TC Energy, the company broke numerous environmental laws, impacting watersheds across the north.

“There was a lot of pretending, a lot of false promises and a lot of false hope that wasted our time,” Marsden said. “The perception is now just gone.”

Nikki Skuce, director of Northern Confluence, a Smithers-based conservation think-tank, said the change in political representation could reduce government oversight on resource extraction activities in the region, especially those linked to the rush to get critical minerals out of the ground and into the market.

“It worries me that we’re going to water down regulations and monitoring and enforcement, putting communities and watersheds at risk from mining disasters,” she told The Narwhal.

She said she doesn’t think the change will have much of an effect on LNG projects that affect the riding. 

“There hasn’t been a commitment by either the Conservatives or the BC NDP to stop fossil fuel infrastructure so I don’t think things will change on that front, but divisions might increase.”

Divisions were already on the rise before the election campaign started this fall. 

In late August, Indigenous leaders denounced the region’s newest pipeline project, the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) line, and set up a blockade north of Terrace. Days later, Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups launched a legal challenge against the project and the BC Energy Regulator. Cullen admitted the battle for the riding was set against a backdrop of several sensitive issues, including what he called “pipeline politics.”

“I’m getting some remorse from some green friends who thought they could send a note of frustration with our government but didn’t actually want us to have a Conservative government or a Conservative MLA,” Cullen said. “But that’s the tricky thing about electoral politics — it’s a winner take all system.”

The new B.C. government will make a crucial decision about the future of the new pipeline project soon, when its environmental assessment certificate expires at the end of November. The new environment minister will determine whether to require a new assessment or grant a “substantially started” designation, which would lock in the pipeline’s 2014 approval indefinitely. 

Skuce emphasized policy decisions like that of the pipeline project have major impacts on communities. She said the Bulkley Valley-Stikine region has already passed 1.6 degrees of warming above pre-industrial levels. The area is experiencing increasing droughts, wildfires and other extreme events as a result of climate change, which is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

“We are in a climate crisis and we saw under the BC NDP an LNG pipeline built forcefully and no commitments to end fossil fuel infrastructure despite that’s what all the science and the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] says we need to do,” she said. “We needed action two decades ago and now our riding is represented by somebody who’s with a party that denies some of the science around climate change.”

‘We’re still neighbours’: Cullen says it’s time to put aside differences and work together

Like many Conservative candidates, Hartwell advanced controversial opinions during the election campaign. In addition to her comments about the U.S. election and withdrawing from the United Nations, she falsely stated that drug use during pregnancy can cause autism during an all-candidates debate in Smithers.

Morris said riding residents may have been willing to overlook these views as they focused on issues affecting their daily lives. 

“Stikine voters had the opportunity to reject some of the positions or statements that Sharon Hartwell made but they … may not have been thinking of the controversial parts but [about] the lunch bucket issues, such as making sure that the mortgage is paid and the job is secure and the kids are well fed and they get off to their dance or hockey lessons and having enough left over at the end of a paycheque to go camping on the weekend down a forest service road,” he explained.

Morris said it’s possible day-to-day issues will trump the more controversial positions held by Hartwell and her colleagues as they take seats in the legislature.

“A lot of BC Conservative candidates, if not all of them, are community-minded people,” he said. “They do care about the region they are going to represent and the province as a whole. They’ve also not been afraid, in many cases, to tell things like they see it.”

Cullen expressed cautious optimism and put his faith in the residents of the region.

“I see us come together in a crisis in beautiful ways,” he said. “It becomes crystal clear when someone’s house is on fire and they’re a neighbour what is important: it isn’t politics and it isn’t parties — it is people. Usually the time after an election is a bit of a healing time, because we’ve just had this partisan argument and now we’re still neighbours. Let’s try to get along, because we’ve got stuff to do.”

Cullen, who will return to his consulting business, specializing in strategic planning and conflict resolution, said he wishes his opponent well. 

“The northwest is an amazing and beautiful and demanding place to represent,” he said. “I think she’s got a super tough job, but that’s no pity parade. That’s what you sign up for.”

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As construction of B.C.’s newest pipeline got underway in late August, with route clearing in the northwest, Indigenous leaders burned a pipeline agreement and set up an on-going blockade.

The 800-kilometre Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline would ship natural gas from northeast B.C. to a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the northwest coast. Conflict over the pipeline is growing as Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders in the region oppose the project on the ground and in the courts.

Neither the pipeline project nor the roots of the conflict are new. Both have complicated histories that span more than a decade and thread through multiple governments.

John Rustad, current leader of the BC Conservatives, was Minister of Aboriginal Relations in the early 2010s when the province set plans in motion for a proposed massive expansion to B.C.’s natural gas sector. Tasked with getting First Nations to agree to pipelines to enable that expansion, Rustad set out to negotiate agreements with Indigenous leaders across the north — agreements now lighting the fires of conflict under the pipeline project. 

As a key decision about the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline looms, the party that forms government following the Oct. 19 B.C. election will face a quagmire of conflict and tough decisions about how to navigate the unfolding situation. 

The Narwhal dug into the complicated history behind the conflict, connecting the dots between political parties, industry and government deals. Here are five key takeaways.

How is the PRGT conflict related to Coastal GasLink?    

The agreements and approvals for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission pipeline happened around the same time as those for the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Until recently, both projects were owned by the same company, multinational pipeline giant TC Energy. 

When construction on Coastal GasLink got underway in 2019, B.C. quickly became a focal point for conflict between industrial development and Indigenous Rights. The B.C. government and TC Energy had signed deals with five of six elected Wet’suwet’en band councils but did not receive free, prior and informed consent from Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, who opposed the pipeline. 

In early 2020, the world watched as Wet’suwet’en opposition to Coastal GasLink led to Indigenous-led solidarity protests that shut down railways and ports across the country. It was a flashpoint that signalled growing frustration with carbon-intensive resource extraction proceeding without consent from Indigenous leaders, held in stark contrast against political commitments to reconciliation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

Conflict over the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project is a bit different, because agreements were signed with a mix of elected band councils and some Hereditary Chiefs across the north. But it’s been 10 years since the ink dried and some Indigenous leaders believe the pipeline should be subject to a new environmental assessment — or scrapped entirely. 

Making things more complicated, TC Energy sold the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line to the Nisg̱a’a government and its industry partners earlier this year. The Nisga’a government says the pipeline — along with the proposed Ksi Lisims LNG project it co-owns that the pipeline will supply — will help build economic prosperity. 

In late August, as construction began on Nisga’a territory, Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs burned agreements and set up an on-going blockade to stop traffic related to the project from crossing their territory. Indigenous leaders have said they plan to take whatever action is necessary to stop the project.

“​​I think everyone has the Coastal GasLink scenario in mind in the context of what is developing around PRGT,” Gavin Smith, lawyer with West Coast Environmental Law, told The Narwhal. He said if the project proceeds, he anticipates “very pronounced opposition.”

Where do B.C.’s political parties stand on LNG?

It’s a two-party race to form government between the Conservatives and NDP. Both support expanding the LNG sector. 

Rustad is vying for the premier’s office on a platform promising to accelerate development of fossil fuel infrastructure in the province. The BC Conservatives have promised to “dramatically expand” B.C.’s natural gas production and LNG export facilities, touting the oft-repeated narrative that natural gas will displace more carbon intensive coal-fired electricity in other countries.

That narrative is widely disputed by critics, who point to how countries like China, frequently cited for its reliance on coal for energy production, are outpacing most in developing renewable energy projects.

While the BC NDP doesn’t use the same language as the BC Conservatives, it offers much the same narrative. 

In an interview with Bloomberg this summer, BC NDP Leader David Eby said it’s possible to double initial production at the country’s first LNG export project, LNG Canada, while still meeting the province’s climate goals. LNG Canada, which will be supplied by the Coastal GasLink pipeline, is slated to commence export operations next year in Kitimat, B.C.

How will the B.C. election affect how the conflict unfolds?

David Tindall, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s sociology department, said the new pipeline being co-owned by the Nisga’a government will influence the B.C. government’s response to potential conflict, no matter which party wins the election.

He said he’s seen a trend where the NDP “is partly trying to do certain types of extractive development,” typically subject to opposition from environmental activists, “by facilitating these kinds of projects when they’re owned or run by First Nations communities.”

The response would look similar if the BC Conservatives form government, he added.

“If the Conservatives win the election, I would see them being a little bit more inclined to pick winners and losers and back the pipeline owners and basically oppose any groups that are opposed to the pipeline.”

Earlier this year, the BC Conservatives pledged to hold “activists who impede the activity of resource development through illegal blockades” accountable — a promise later quietly scrubbed from the party’s website.

What are the climate impacts of the PRGT pipeline?

The brewing conflict is a distraction from the real issue, according to Naxginkw Tara Marsden, a Gitanyow member from Wilp Gamlakyeltxw who works with the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs.

“We’re stuck in this cycle of people only paying attention when it’s that really heated, race-based conflict and the fact that this is nation to nation is even juicier,” she told The Narwhal. “But that’s not the story — the story is the climate is going to kill us all.”

Natural gas is mostly composed of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide for its short-term warming impact on the planet. Methane is invisible and odorless, which means leaks are notoriously hard to detect. And every step of the process of extracting the fossil fuel for energy production — including the wellhead, pipeline, liquefaction, shipping, regasification and combustion — adds more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, intensifying the effects of climate change.

A recent study in the journal Energy Science and Engineering calculated the climatic impacts of the full lifecycle of getting gas out of the ground and shipped overseas to be burned for energy production. The study, authored by Robert Howarth, a Cornell University environmental scientist, concluded natural gas exported from the United States produces 33 per cent more greenhouse gases than coal.

“To think we should be shipping around this gas as a climate solution is just plain wrong,” Howarth told the Guardian.

What’s next for the PRGT pipeline?

The new provincial government must decide whether or not to require a new environmental assessment for the pipeline project. It will consider work done on the pipeline until Nov. 25 in its decision about whether to lock in the project’s original environmental assessment certificate indefinitely — by granting what’s called a “substantially started” designation or require a new assessment.

When the pipeline received government approval in 2014, B.C. gave a green light to a route ending in Prince Rupert. But the route was changed in an amendment application filed with the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office in June. 

Instead of going to Prince Rupert, the pipeline’s proposed final destination is now the as-yet-unapproved Ksi Lisims LNG project on B.C.’s north coast, near Alaska. Smith, with West Coast Environmental Law, said the destination change calls into question whether the pipeline is the same project that was approved. 

“Now we’re seeing, effectively, a different project being proposed that is going to an entirely different place,” Smith said. He said pipeline construction started this summer based on what appears to be an attempt to “portray and advance this through existing permits that were made for a project that was going to Prince Rupert.”

“If the provincial government were to approve and advance, or enable the advancement of, the PRGT project in those pretty suspect legal circumstances, in my view, I think that is going to deeply aggravate and increase the likelihood of the types of conflicts on the land that everyone wants to see avoided,” he said.

The decision about whether to proceed with a new environmental assessment will be made by B.C.’s new environment minister following the election.

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