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Coldwater Indian Band successful against Kinder Morgan in Federal Court of Appeal

September 27, 2017

The Federal Court of Appeal has ordered Ottawa to renegotiate the terms under which the Trans Mountain pipeline crosses a Coldwater Band reserve, raising new questions about the fate of Kinder Morgan Inc.’s federally approved plan to expand the pipeline.

In a decision released this week, the court ruled that the federal government failed in its duty to protect the interests of the Band in 2014 when it approved the transfer to Kinder Morgan of an easement agreement on the original pipeline, which was completed in 1952.

Carolyn Bennett, the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Northern Affairs, must now make a “redetermination” on the easement before Kinder Morgan can boost the flow of the pipeline as part of its expansion project.

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Emma Hume | Aboriginal Law