First Nations Consent Ignored as Canadians Asked to Subsidize LNG Expansion

Press Release

September 11, 2025

Mark Carney’s push to double LNG Canada as a “nation-building” project ignores the right of Indigenous peoples to free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) and asks taxpayers to underwrite a project with no clear business case.

Despite billions in subsidies already spent, LNG Canada’s foreign-owned partners have yet to commit to financing Phase 2, while low cost global competitors continue to dominate the market.

The project violates Canada’s commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples because Canada failed to consult or get the consent from impacted First Nations title holders before advancing LNG Canada’s expansion. Further, the project is locking in high emissions, and draining public funds for little return.

LNG Canada Phase 1 will cause $400 billion CAD in climate harm over the full course of the project lifecycle, according to analysis by Clean Energy Canada. Combined with Phase 2, the cost of its climate harm soars to almost $1 trillion CAD.

As millions of hectares burn and as thousands of Canadians are forced to evacuate from their homes, we need not look far to see the climate harm all around us; of course, caused by burning fossil fuels.

Expanding LNG in the middle of a climate crisis is not nation-building—it’s a costly gamble Canadians can’t afford.

The following leaders and experts are available to speak to reporters as you tell the whole story.

Quotes

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC President

“The Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) is gravely concerned that the Government of Canada continues to deliberately sidestep its duty to consult and cooperate with First Nations. Rather than being met with partnership, we are given an ultimatum: accept fossil fuel expansion or be pushed aside. LNG Canada is not only a massive source of greenhouse gas emissions but also drives destructive fracking, further threatening our lands, waters, and communities- emissions do not recognize territorial boundaries. Through resolution, the UBCIC Chiefs Council has recognized the health and environmental hazards of the fracking/LNG industry. We reject any process that tramples our inherent and constitutionally protected title and rights, ignores free, prior and informed consent, and sacrifices the climate for foreign corporate profits. True nation-building requires working with us, not against us.”

Gwii Lok’im Gibuu (Jesse Stoeppler), Deputy Chief of the Hagwilget Village Council
“Canada is asking its taxpayers to bankroll foreign corporations while turning its back on Indigenous rights. The government is propping up an industry that private investors won’t even back themselves, and in doing so, it is ignoring its legal and moral obligations to Indigenous Peoples. This could not be further from ‘economic leadership’ or ‘nation building’ — it’s a desperate gamble that will cost Canadians their money, their future, and any claim to reconciliation. Sovereignty, economic or not, will not have its parameters set by anyone but the rightful titleholders.”

Chief Na’Moks, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief

“Canada cannot claim reconciliation while forcing LNG projects through without our consent. Free, Prior and Informed Consent is not optional, it’s a right. Calling this project ‘nation-building’ is an insult, because you cannot build a country by trampling the very Nations whose lands you exploit. How is it in Canada’s best interest to destroy the lives and environment of the Canadians who are most affected? By choosing foreign corporations over Indigenous rights, over our lands, and over our future, Mark Carney is showing that reconciliation is nothing more than a slogan.”

Sleydo’ (Molly Wickham), Spokesperson for Gidimt’en Checkpoint, Wet’suwet’en Nation
“By financially backing the second phase of a project that has caused intense conflict for the Wet’suwet’en over the past six years, Canada is sending a clear message to its citizens and to the world: Indigenous people don’t matter. The project has already drawn international attention and driven up the cost of the associated CGL pipeline by billions because of delays. Pushing ahead now risks sparking another national uprising. Indigenous Peoples are fed up, and Carney is pouring fuel on the fire.”

Willo Prince, Campaign Manager, Indigenous Climate Action

“Canada is once again forcing projects through that relegate Indigenous communities, lands, and waters to the sacrifice zones of oil and gas expansion. Mark Carney advertises LNG as “nation-building” despite foreign entities privatizing the benefits of a dying industry, while leaving Canadians to bear the brunt of the bill. In this new era of ‘economic reconciliation,’ oil and gas officials seek to reduce our presence to stakeholders in industry, and not as the true rightsholders to the land where these projects are taking place and benefit from. This is not nation-building, but rather an attempt to destabilize Indigenous sovereignty by making our communities agents of industry.”

Keith Stewart, Senior Energy Strategist, Greenpeace Canada
“Doubling down on LNG exports from a project that has faced fierce Indigenous opposition makes no sense at a time when wildfires are bringing home the cost of the climate crisis and key markets like China and Europe are turning to solar and wind rather than fossil fuels. Projects of national interest need to set Canadians up for a secure future through proven greener solutions that uphold Indigenous rights and protect our natural heritage.”

Richard Brooks, Stand.earth Climate Finance Director

“Having a massive carbon bomb lead the list of projects of national interest — with a looming LNG glut and amidst another record fire year — is both financially risky and absolutely not in the national interest. Where are the homebuilding projects? Where are the high speed rail and electrification programs? Where are the Indigenous lead renewables projects that are shovel ready?”

John Young, Senior LNG Strategist, Climate Action Network
“Since LNG Canada has had all the permits it needs to proceed for years, the Prime Minister must be planning major subsidies for major foreign corporations to move this project ahead while climate crisis-fuelled wildfires burn across the country and around the world. Touted as a leading expert on the climate crisis, the Prime Minister appears to have forgotten his expertise – instead paving the way for the oil and gas industry to literally pour more fuel on the fire. More fossil fuel projects are nation destroying projects not nation building projects. And that’s climate science, not rocket science.”

Michael Sambasivam, Senior Policy Analyst with Investors For Paris Compliance
“When choosing projects of national interest, it is imperative that the federal government consider market fundamentals. Canada’s largest potential buyers – Asia and Europe – have seen their projected LNG demand soften. Russia’s new pipeline to China is only going to exacerbate the global glut of LNG. Sectors that would support the energy transition are likely to see significant growth over the coming decades. Picking out projects that can help Canada grow into the emerging transition economy would better serve Canada’s long term interests.”

Adam Scott, Executive Director, Shift: Action for Pension Wealth & Planet Health
“LNG Canada isn’t a nation building project. It’s another dangerous bet on failure for Canada’s future. Failure to stabilize our shared climate. Failure to respect Indigenous rights and seek reconciliation. Failure to prepare our economy to succeed in the energy transition.”

Minh-Ly De Reboul, Communication Coordinator, Change Course
“The government’s LNG expansion is a betrayal of our future. While youth work toward building a livable world, Mark Carney sells it out to corporate greed. This isn’t nation-building, it’s destruction. Young people around the world are rising up. We won’t be silent while our future is burned for profit.”

Dr. Ulrike Meyer, a Dawson Creek family physician & representative of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment’s BC committee (CAPE BC)
“Expanding LNG infrastructure means more fracking, which is linked to pulmonary disease, asthma, heart attack, pre-term birth, and cancers in a growing body of peer-reviewed research. Indigenous and rural communities pay the highest price. I see this showing up in my practice in northern BC. It is unconscionable for the federal government to greenlight LNG Canada Phase 2 without Indigenous consent and without regard for the devastating health impacts on our communities.”

Dr. Beatrice Frank, Executive Director of Georgia Strait Alliance
“Canada claims to be a leader in fighting climate change, and will host the G7 Energy and Environment Ministers’ Meeting next month. We have vowed to drastically cut emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, yet in the midst of a climate crisis we are expanding LNG—ignoring Indigenous consent and asking Canadians to subsidize climate instability under the guise of ‘nation building.’ This isn’t climate leadership, it’s climate contradiction.”

Andrew Dumbrille, co-director, Equal Routes
“Nation building doesn’t happen through fossil fuel expansion, nor continuing to rely on inaccurate facts about its social and environmental harm. A recent fact checking report on industry and government claims about Canada’s LNG life cycle emissions is a case in point. Unaccounted methane leaks, especially during LNG tanker transport, and under-reporting of real world life cycle emissions shows the false solutions which can underpin fossil infrastructure investment. From land to sea, LNG is not a solution for Canada and should be no part of ongoing or future support.”

Gabrielle Willms, Organizer with For Our Kids
“As families in Canada reel from another devastating summer of wildfires and struggle to make ends meet, it’s shocking and disappointing to see our government claim fossil fuel expansion is in the “national interest.” LNG Canada is a carbon bomb that goes against the interests of our kids and future generations, faces Indigenous resistance, poses huge health and environmental risks, and takes the place of projects we actually need — like affordable, green housing, widespread public transit and Indigenous-led clean energy.”

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, UBCIC, Phone: 250-490-5314

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