British Columbia First Nations delegation submit complaint to Petronas on LNG Canada rights violations

In Kuala Lumpur, a delegation from First Nations in British Columbia, Canada, namely Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Na’Moks and Gwii Lok’im Gibuu (Jesse Stoeppler), Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en Nations, along with partners RimbaWatch and the Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition, submitted an official letter of complaint to Petronas at their headquarters on 2 December.

The letter raises complaints against Petronas for their ongoing investment in the LNG Canada project and its associated Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline, which has resulted in grave violations of Indigenous rights, environmental degradation and human rights abuses in British Columbia.

The LNG Canada Project is a large-scale liquefied fossil gas (LNG) export terminal designed to export more than 14 million tonnes per annum of LNG, processed from fossil gas extracted from the Dawson Creek area.

To transport fossil gas from Dawson Creek to the terminal, the five LNG Canada participants – Shell, Petrochina, Mitsubishi, Kogas and Petronas, which holds a 20% stake – selected TC Energy to design, build, own and operate the CGL Pipeline through a 25-year transport service agreement.

In their letter, the First Nations delegation affirms that the CGL pipeline crosses the unceded traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation without the free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) of the hereditary chiefs, who hold legal title to these lands under Canadian constitutional law and a 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the federal and provincial governments.

This is in direct contradiction to the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in the 1997 Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa case that the Wet’suwet’en hold aboriginal title and rights to their land and must be consulted, as well as to Canada’s commitment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The letter outlines that Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs consistently and lawfully opposed the CGL pipeline, passing resolutions through the First Nation’s internal and legally recognised decision-making forums and issuing formal eviction notices to the CGL’s contractors.

Further, the letter documents that the CGL pipeline has already violated British Columbia’s environmental regulations more than 60 times, triggering enforcement actions by the relevant authorities.

These violations include causing the sedimentation of rivers and damage to fish habitat, particularly at Wedzin Kwa (Morice River), which is a sacred site for the Wet’suwet’en. This destruction not only threatens biodiversity but also constitutes a violation of Wet’suwet’en rights to cultural life and traditional subsistence, protected under both Canadian law and international human rights norms.

Additionally, the letter details severe human rights violations committed during CGL’s construction.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) carried out a campaign of harassment and intimidation against Wet’suwet’en people asserting their rights on their ancestral territory, including militarised raids in which officers forcibly removed land defenders at gunpoint.

These raids resulted in the arrests of hereditary chiefs, matriarchs, youths and journalists – actions that targeted people engaged in the lawful defence of their land and rights. Amnesty International has documented these events as gross violations of human rights in a formal report, underscoring the gravity of the abuses.

In 2020 nationwide pipeline and railway protests erupted across Canada in response, with communities across Canada shutting down railways and ports for days in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en.

In February 2025, the British Columbia Supreme Court further affirmed the extent of these violations, finding that the RCMP used “grossly offensive, racist and dehumanizing language”, applied “excessive force” and breached the human rights of Wet’suwet’en people during the raids.

The complaint reminds Petronas that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have raised serious concerns about the repression of Indigenous land defenders and violations of civil liberties in the construction of the CGL Pipeline.

Additionally, the United Nations committee on the elimination of racial discrimination issued urgent action decisions in both December 2019 and November 2020, urging Canada to halt construction of the pipeline and withdraw police forces from Wet’suwet’en lands until free, prior and informed consent had been secured.

In January 2023, seven UN special rapporteurs issued an official letter to Petronas (ref: AL OTH 119/2022) under the mandates of the working group on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. In it, they detailed their concerns regarding Petronas’s alleged involvement in human rights abuses associated with the LNG Canada project.

A similar complaint was filed with the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), which has provided loans to finance the LNG Canada project, and is currently under investigation.

In reference to the above, the delegation calls on Petronas to engage directly with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who are recognised under Canadian constitutional law as the legitimate rights-holders over the affected territories.

This engagement must involve meaningful consultation regarding the ongoing impacts of the LNG Canada and Coastal GasLink projects and identify pathways for remedy. This includes consideration of project modifications, restoration of damaged ecosystems such as Wedzin Kwa, and concrete support for Wet’suwet’en self-determination.

Additionally, the delegation demands that Petronas suspend all planning, financing or operational involvement in any potential expansion of the LNG Canada project or associated infrastructure until it has completed a full reassessment of the environmental, social and human rights impacts.

This should include reassessing the impacts of the Coastal GasLink pipeline as essential associated infrastructure, with specific attention to the outstanding Indigenous rights violations, including the continued absence of free, prior and informed consent from the Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership. – RimbaWatch/SKCC

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