Miller says government needs to start Indigenous consultation on B.C. pipeline

OTTAWA — Heritage Minister Marc Miller says his government needs to “sit down and start working now” on consultation with Indigenous communities and stakeholders about a possible new pipeline in B.C.

“The work starts now. It should have started yesterday. We need to engage with Indigenous communities in a respectful, thoughtful way,” Miller said Tuesday.

On his way into a cabinet meeting Tuesday morning, the former minister of Crown-Indigenous relations told reporters he sees a difficult road ahead for any pipeline project.

“If everyone thought Thursday was difficult, that was probably the easiest day in the life of that pipeline,” Miller said.

On Thursday, the Liberal government signed a memorandum of understanding with the Alberta government that could clear a path for a pipeline to the West Coast.

The agreement opens up the possibility of an exemption from the oil tanker ban off the B.C. coast — something that the Coastal First Nations in B.C. immediately rejected.

As part of the agreement, Ottawa and the Alberta government committed to engaging with the B.C. government and with Indigenous communities in both provinces on a bitumen pipeline project.

Miller said that will require federal officials to “actually listen” to communities.

“Getting to ‘yes’ is a difficult and complex process, but it can’t be done from a desktop. It has to actually be done face to face in a respectful way with the people responsible and in charge,” he said.

His comments come after his cabinet colleague, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, had to apologize for comments he made during an interview with CBC News last week.

Hodgson had tried and failed to hastily arrange a Vancouver meeting with Coastal First Nations after the Alberta deal was announced. When pressed to explain why he offered the meeting on such short notice, he told CBC on Thursday that the chiefs could have met with him over Zoom.

The next day, Hodgson said he had apologized to the group of nine First Nations for what he called a poor choice of words. He also said in a social media post that he looked forward “to an in-person meeting at their convenience.”

Miller is back in the federal cabinet for the first time since Mark Carney became prime minister. He was in Justin Trudeau’s cabinet from 2019 to 2025 and this week was tapped to replace his former colleague, Steven Guilbeault.

Guilbeault, who was environment minister in the Trudeau government, resigned last week from cabinet after saying he couldn’t support the deal with Alberta or the direction the government is taking on climate action.

Prime Minister Carney told reporters Tuesday that his caucus recognizes the Alberta agreement is “a grand bargain” that creates the possibility for Canada to become more independent from the United States.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 2, 2025.