It seems that the woes of Enbridge’s Northern gateway oil pipeline project are far from over. On Thursday, June 30, the approval of the project has been overturned by a Canadian court. The Federal Court cited the reason that the government has not succeeded to properly consult the First Nations affected by the project. Many aboriginal groups and the environmentalists have already opposed this pipeline project before.

The former Conservative government of Canada had approved Northern Gateway to export oil from the Alberta oil sands to a northern British Columbia port in 2014. However, more than two hundred conditions were laid for the construction of this project. Nevertheless, the approval has not gone well with many aboriginal communities of British Columbia, also known as the First Nations. This resulted in filing lawsuits by the aboriginal communities along with the groups of environmentalists for overturning the decision.

The ruling stated, "We find that Canada offered only a brief, hurried and inadequate opportunity … to exchange and discuss information and to dialogue." The judges mentioned that the government should have given more effort and time to engage the First Nations meaningfully in the project. The matter is now sent to Justin Trudeau’s cabinet for a “prompt redetermination”.