Major projects CEO hears B.C. chiefs on consultation

Major Projects Office CEO Dawn Farrell told British Columbia chiefs on Oct. 14 that their frustration over consultation makes her feel Canada is “never going to work,” as First Nations pressed Ottawa for national standards on how Indigenous communities are consulted on fast-tracked projects, The Canadian Press reported.

Farrell spoke at the B.C. Assembly of First Nations annual general meeting in Vancouver. Media were asked to leave before she appeared, but the session was streamed publicly on the assembly’s YouTube channel, according to The Canadian Press.

Farrell said her office wants to do better. She agreed with the idea of national consultation standards, the news agency reported, but questioned how they would fit alongside the federal government’s push for faster project approvals.

Rosanne Casimir, chief of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, presented the call for standards. She said First Nations receive documents “after the fact,” The Canadian Press reported. Shana Thomas, a hereditary chief of Lyackson First Nation, said “Consultation is something you do” and that First Nations must be equal partners in decisions.

The chiefs’ main example was the Pacific Link oil pipeline, proposed to run from Alberta to B.C. Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced on Oct. 1 that it would be the first project designated in the national interest under the Building Canada Act. Chiefs told the meeting they had 11 working days to review and engage on that designation, and that Ottawa took nearly a month to respond to their concerns about the process, according to the report.

The consultation window was first set at one month, then extended to two. Farrell told the meeting she had two binders of 1,200 pages on her coffee table, the news agency reported. Her office’s goal is to finish reviews and consultations within a year, which would allow construction to start next September.

The Privy Council Office told The Canadian Press that senior officials meet with communities when asked.

The meeting adds to a dispute that has run since the Oct. 1 designation. Ottawa’s own summary of its Pacific Link consultations, which we reported on Oct. 8, said Indigenous groups complained they lacked the information needed to judge the project’s effects. The government said the office provided a meaningful opportunity for consultation. Treaty 8 Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi, who sits on the Major Projects Office’s Indigenous advisory council, stood with Carney and Smith at the announcement but told Global News his presence should not be read as support for the project. He said the advisory council was never asked whether the timeline or a 10 per cent Indigenous ownership stake was enough.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, who was not at the B.C. meeting, has criticized the Major Projects Office, calling some of its staff “junior staffers” and saying Farrell has been unavailable to meet AFN leadership, The Canadian Press reported.

First Nations delegates at the B.C. meeting also passed a resolution calling for the Building Canada Act to be halted and, if Bill C-39 passes, repealed. As we reported on Oct. 11, four First Nations organizations, including the B.C. Assembly of First Nations, have demanded Ottawa withdraw the bill, which would expand the one-year review model and create “regions of national interest.”

Farrell’s appearance came less than two weeks before a First Nations-First Ministers’ Meeting in Ottawa on Oct. 26, where Carney, the premiers and AFN regional chiefs are expected to discuss major projects. The consultation standards the B.C. chiefs are seeking, and whether they can coexist with a 365-day review clock, are likely to be tested there.

The Canadian Press report did not say what a national standard would require, such as minimum review periods or funding for communities to hire technical experts. Farrell’s one-year goal and the chiefs’ call for more time remain the central tension.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.

Updated Oct. 15, 2026. This story is developing. Via The Canadian Press (original report), with background from Global News, our Oct. 8 report and our Bill C-39 report.