Prime Minister Mark Carney is on B.C.’s North Coast on Tuesday to meet with First Nations leaders.
Carney is in Prince Rupert, where he will meet with the Coastal First Nations Alliance, representing eight First Nations, along with the Haisla and Lax Kw’alaams First Nations.
The parties are expected to discuss the development of major projects in the region, including pipelines, as well as marine conservation.
The First Nations have expressed strong opposition to Ottawa’s agreement with Alberta to explore a possible pipeline to B.C.’s North Coast and have stated that they will use every tool they have to keep oil tankers out of their waters.
In November 2025, Marilyn Slett, president of the Coastal First Nations-Great Bear Initiative and elected chief of the Heiltsuk Nation, said in a statement that they dismiss the upcoming pipeline memorandum of understanding and vowed that the North Coast Pipeline would never be built.
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“As the Rights and Title Holders of the Central and North Coast and Haida Gwaii, we are here to remind the Alberta government, the federal government, and any potential private proponent that we will never allow oil tankers on our coast, and that this pipeline project will never happen,” Slett said.
Coastal First Nations works to protect the B.C. coastline and the Great Bear Rainforest and to ensure First Nations have a say in how resources and waters are managed.
More to come.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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