Kenney responds to Supreme Court decision on Trans Mountain

EDMONTON (660 NEWS) – Premier Jason Kenney is welcoming the latest decision from the Supreme Court of Canada on the Trans Mountain expansion.

On Thursday morning, Canada’s top court said it would not hear an appeal from several B.C. First Nations who oppose the second approval of the project.

Speaking during an infrastructure announcement in Taber, Kenney said 129 of the affected First Nations either support or don’t oppose Trans Mountain.

“This is an affirmation that reconciliation means reconciliaction, it means economic opportunity. It means saying yes to the vast majority of First Nations and Indigenous people who want to move their communities from poverty to prosperity.”

RELATED: Supreme Court won’t hear allow First Nations’ appeal of Trans Mountain pipeline 

Kenney added the decision brings the country closer to a prosperous future for all First Nations peoples.

“Together, we are working with First Nations throughout British Columbia and across Canada to ensure that their folks have a future of jobs, or opportunity and prosperity. It’s a moral cause of our time.”

The First Nations groups who launched the appeal, say they’re disappointed in the decision and are vowing to keep fighting the pipeline.

The Trans Mountain expansion project was first approved in 2016 but was stuck in a legal battle before the Federal Court of Appeal withdrew the original approval citing a lack of consultation with Indigenous people.

In June 2019, the government approved the project for a second time and construction has already started.