Cold Lake First Nations fighting Pathways Alliance carbon capture project [Video]

The chief of Cold Lake First Nations says he plans to intervene in the provincial government’s court challenge of the federal Impact Assessment Act on the feds’ side.

This comes after a group of Treaty 6 First Nations in northern Alberta wrote to federal Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault requesting a federal impact assessment for a proposed multi-billion-dollar carbon storage network on their territory.

“We are federal people,” Chief Kelsey Jacko of Cold Lake First Nations told Alberta Native News. “We did not sign a Treaty with Alberta.”

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in October 2023 that the federal Impact Assessment Act unconstitutionally steps into areas of provincial jurisdiction, which resulted in the federal government making amendments, including exempting greenhouse gas emissions from consideration. 

Alberta Premier Daneille Smith, arguing that the changes amount to “clever word games,” is challenging the amended legislation at the Alberta Court of Appeal. 

On Nov. 28, the same day Smith announced her latest court challenge, the leaders of Cold Lake …