Indigenous leaders tell Senate major projects bill moving too fast, call for consults
OTTAWA – The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami says 'Canada's weakness' is publicly saying reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is of top priority then acting like it isn't when it introduces legislation like the major projects bill.
The legislation is being widely criticized by Indigenous leaders and community members across the country.
Bill C-5 would give the federal cabinet the ability to set aside various statutes to push forward approvals for a small number of major industrial products, such as mines, pipelines and ports.
Natan Obed was one of three Indigenous leaders speaking in the Senate chamber today who all said their rights were not properly considered in the legislation.
Obed, Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak and Manitoba Métis Federation President David Chartrand all want the government to allow more time for Indigenous groups to express their concerns.
Chartrand says he'll support the legislation, but worries Métis won't be fully included in the benefits it promises.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 16, 2025.
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This includes a rally planned for Tuesday afternoon outside Parliament. The bill 'is an assault on science and democracy,' Anna Johnston, a staff lawyer at West Coast Environmental Law, said at the press conference. Johnston said the bill will shut the public out of decisions that affect them and allow cabinet to withhold 'virtually all' information about projects from the public, including the project details, scientific reviews and the advice of responsible ministers. Public comment periods would still take place, but after a project has already been listed and received conditional approval, according to the legislation. 'If a highway were designated for fast-tracking just blocks from your home, the minister wouldn't have to give you any information beyond the name and a brief description of it, and you would have no say in whether, where, or how the highway was built,' Johnston said. 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This bill is worse than Stephen Harper's omnibus bill C-38 which famously 'destroyed 70 environmental laws,' May said. 'It appears to me, and it remains to be seen, that Mr. Carney's new majority coalition is Liberal-Conservative, delivering Pierre Poilievre policies with a more friendly face,' May said. The bill has a five-year sunset clause, meaning that if the bill becomes law, there will be a five year period during which projects can be listed for conditional approval. May pointed out that one Liberal MP, Patrick Weiler, wants a shorter sunset clause because of the sweeping powers it affords to government. 'Allowing cabinet to decide which projects proceed before reviewing them is like jumping off a cliff and then asking for the parachute,' Johnston said. The Bloc Québécois wants no part of projects based on 'energy of the past,' MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay said during debate on his party's motion on Monday evening. This is just economic and environmental common sense, he said, referencing scientific reports that a vast majority of fossil fuel reserves must remain in the ground if the world has any hope of limiting global warming in line with the Paris Agreement. Canada's oilsands produce 'some of the most heavily polluting oil in the world,' he said.
