Amy Romer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews

When a federal judge ruled last month in favour of Woodfibre LNG’s floating work camp to keep housing workers near Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, it seemed at first glance the legal challenge had failed.

The judicial review case asked the court to overturn the federal government’s approval of the “floatel” — a former Estonian cruise liner converted into a massive worker accommodation vessel, stationed seven kilometres from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) in Átl’ḵa7tsem (Howe Sound). 

“I guess I was hoping that it would be a way for us to stop Woodfibre LNG,” Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Elder Tiaoutenaat (Jackie Williams) reflected, as she sat shaded from the sun at St’á7mes (Stawamus), one of the nation’s six reserves.

Tiaoutenaat was one of the applicants behind the judicial review case, alongside a 17-year-old Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Youth (whom IndigiNews is not identifying as she is a minor) and local environmental group My Sea to Sky.

In the end, Justice Sébastien Grammond upheld the floatel’s authorization. But according to the lawsuit’s applicants, the case became about something bigger.

And after the province launched public consultations on adding a second floating workforce housing vessel on July 8, the stakes for those concerned about gender-based violence are even higher. 

State has duty ‘to prevent gender-based violence’

Although the judge didn’t strike down the government’s approval of the floatel, he acknowledged in a June 20 ruling that the presence of a largely male construction workforce could potentially increase the risk of gender-based violence in nearby communities.

He also accepted that this violence risk — although “open to debate” — touches on core guarantees to safety, equality, and protection from discrimination in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“I am prepared to assume, without deciding, that the presence of a largely male construction workforce gives rise to a heightened risk of gender-based violence in neighbouring communities,” Grammond wrote, noting gender-based violence impacts values enshrined in the Charter. 

“These values translate into a duty of the state to take reasonable measures to prevent gender-based violence. There is a sufficient nexus between greenlighting the floatel proposal and a heightened risk of gender-based violence.”

Sue Brown, the lawyer representing Tiaoutenaat and the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Youth through the advocacy group Justice for Girls, said this framing creates a legal pathway for future cases, even if the court didn’t rule definitively on those rights here.

“We got a really, really strong statement from the court on the Charter and how it ought to apply in the context of decisions related to oil and gas projects,” she said. 

Brown says the court’s decision creates a precedent — affirming authorities have a “due diligence obligation” to consider and prevent gender-based violence when they review proposed extractive industry projects. 

“The state now has an obligation to fulfill that duty,” Brown said.

She added that this is the first time she’s seen a “Canadian” court articulate that obligation so clearly — a step she described as “massive.”

A divisive oil and gas project

The Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre Gas Pipeline — operated by FortisBC to supply the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant — spans roughly 47 kilometres, starting near the Coquitlam watershed and ending at the Woodfibre LNG terminal on the shores of Átl’ḵa7tsem. 

A short boat ride from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, the plant is visible from Sp’akw’us (Feather Park), the town’s new beachfront park, and the highway — particularly at night when intense floodlights cast a glow across the inlet, making it resemble a small industrial city.

A nine kilometre tunnel will pass beneath the Skwelwil’em (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Estuary) and connect to FortisBC’s existing infrastructure, carrying fracked gas extracted in northeastern “B.C.” and “Alberta” through a network of pipelines across the province.

When the gas reaches the Woodfibre plant, it’ll be cooled into liquid using hydro-powered electric compressors and loaded onto tankers, which will voyage past “Vancouver” and “Victoria” before heading to markets in Asia. 

Companies including British-owned BP and Chinese-owned Guangzhou Gas are already contracted to receive exports. 

The province promotes LNG as part of a cleaner energy future. 

But some Sḵwx̱wú7mesh community members remain troubled about the long-term impacts of fracked gas and increased industrialization in their homelands and beyond.

Recent federal moves in response to the trade war — such as the recently enacted One Canadian Economy Act (Bill C‑5), along with “B.C.’s” new provincial legislation (Bills 14 and 15) — would fast-track similar industrial projects. 

The bills position major extractive projects such as oil and gas as matters of national and economic security.

Back in 2015, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation’s elected government signed onto the Woodfibre and its associated pipeline projects, saying it “conducted the first legally-binding Indigenous-led environmental assessments in Canada,” through “extensive community engagement.”

But as Tiaoutenaat alleged, “They called a community meeting at the 13th hour,” arguing the meeting had low turnout with an estimated 30 people. She said a majority of participants opposed the proposed deals, requesting instead a community referendum.

But the nation went ahead with the project, saying that it “voiced the need for the nation’s culture, values and priorities to be reflected when assessing such large projects,” Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw states on its website.

“Between 2013 and 2015 … extensive community engagement and technical review led to the nation ultimately approving both projects with conditions to ensure environmental, cultural, archaeological, and social priorities were addressed with nation oversight.”

Meanwhile, many members of the newly elected council that followed, in 2017, ran under a campaign that opposed Woodfibre.

“I think that the last council was guided by a set of principles that they tried to bring forward and I think that the community didn’t agree with those principles,” elected councillor Khelsilem told CBC at the time.

“I think the community spoke loudly and clearly that they do not support the development of Woodfibre LNG in our territory and they’ve elected people who are ready to stand up for our environment.”

IndigiNews requested an interview with Sḵwx̱wú7mesh leadership but did not hear back before publication time.

Community members like Tiaoutenaat still remember the harm caused by the old Britannia Mines (closed in 1974), the Woodfibre Pulp Mill (closed in 2006), and the FMC Canada/Canadian-Oxy mercury cell chlor-alkali plant (closed in 1991). With so much industry located on the waters of Átl’ḵa7tsem, there have been  decades of pollution which drove marine life away, she reflected.

“We’re only just seeing it come back to life,” said Tiaoutenaat, her voice breaking.

Woodfibre LNG’s floatel has been moored and occupied at the Woodfibre LNG site on Átl’ḵa7tsem since June 21 of last year — despite lacking a municipal permit from the District of Squamish. 

Days after the municipal council voted to reject its one-year temporary use permit, Woodfibre moved the floatel into place, citing a June 17 order from the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office to resolve its worker-housing plans. 

“Woodfibre LNG is committed to avoiding impacts and maximizing local benefits for the community,” the company’s website states, noting that non-local workers won’t be allowed into nearby communities, but transported to “Vancouver.”

“The floatel was specifically selected to promote a safe and culturally inclusive work environment … All workers on the floatel undergo mandatory, in-person cultural awareness and gender safety training delivered by Indigenous trainers.”

But the decision to move workers onto the ship — and the speed at which it was deployed — raised concerns about the social impacts of industrial work camps, which led to the recent judicial review. 

Central to the case was the concern for an increased risk of violence toward Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people.

Those concerns, Brown said, point to a deeper legal question — one that Justice Grammond appeared open to considering: whether governments have a positive obligation not only to avoid causing harm, but to actively prevent it. 

This evolving legal concept, especially relevant in cases of gender-based violence, is also gaining traction in climate and human rights litigation. 

To illustrate this shift, Grammond cited La Rose v. Canada, a Youth-led climate lawsuit challenging the federal government’s responsibility to protect life and security for future generations.

“That’s a win — a huge win — and probably a much bigger win than we would have won if we simply won the judicial review,” Brown said.

What the decision didn’t do, however, was halt the project — or require any changes to its existing authorizations. The court accepted the government’s claim that there wasn’t enough evidence on record to prove harm.

But as Brown pointed out, that wasn’t because harm isn’t happening. 

“He’s just saying there’s no evidence here on the record for me to make a determination,” said Brown, alleging an absence of monitoring programs or data transparency from Woodfibre LNG.

“It’s a catch-22,” Brown said. “But I think what his decision did was it affirmed the law as it applied — and that’s super helpful. 

“So if we’re right on the law, now we just need the evidence.” 

‘This industry has divided our community’

During an interview with IndigiNews, Tiaoutenaat wore a shirt featuring an Indigenous design of a sloth hanging from a tree. It featured the words “Sloth Life” — which is ironic, since Tiaoutenaat is anything but slow.

She’s deeply involved in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh education, the shaping of the nation’s child welfare laws, and — though she’d rather not have to be — opposing the Eagle Mountain-Woodfibre gas pipeline project. She tries to fit all of this in amongst caring, and being present for her family, which often means juggling a whole load of priorities.

“I think some people see me as an Elder, but I’m going to keep staying busy doing what I do for as long as I can,” she said.

Tiaoutenaat expressed the stress she was feeling about an upcoming Woodfibre meeting later that afternoon, which overlapped with her family circle. 

She and her husband planned to tag team the meeting so she could spend time with their kids and grandkids. 

“They mean everything to me,” she said.

Tiaoutenaat worries about their safety, as well as her own. She sees FortisBC workers in town — who are working on pipeline construction, and living among the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh community — and wonders if they know who she is. 

“I’ve been a loud opponent to this,” she said. “And I know they’ve taken my picture.”

Tiaoutenaat isn’t the only one. Tracey Saxby, executive director and co-founder of My Sea to Sky said she has also witnessed pipeline workers taking her picture. 

“To be fair, I’m also taking photos of what is happening at the site,” said Saxby, “although I’m not specifically trying to capture photos of the workers themselves.”

Tiaoutenaat said she worries they might be sharing her photo around.

“What if somebody meant to do me harm?” she asked.

In being a vocal opponent to the project, Tiaoutenaat says she feels “very alone.” 

Tiaoutenaat declined self-defence classes offered by FortisBC for Sḵwx̱wú7mesh community members, explaining that accepting would feel too much like siding with the company.

Even members of Tiaoutenaat’ own family who oppose the pipeline often don’t speak out — she believes because they’re afraid of alienating friends or family employed by the project.

“This industry has divided our community,” she said, holding back tears. 

“It’s hard to stand up for what’s right. I know in my heart, in my mind, what I’m doing is right.” 

The other Sḵwx̱wú7mesh applicant in the judicial review — the 17-year-old high school student — told the judge she feels unsafe living alongside workers from the project. 

She works part-time at a local business and worries about her safety both at work, and when spending time outdoors around Átl’ḵa7tsem.

Unlike the 650 workers on the floatel — who work in two-week sprints and are barred from visiting the town — non-local FortisBC pipeline workers and other project sub-contractors will stay in hotels and short-term rentals in town. 

‘Resource extraction projects can drive violence’

The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls — which released its final report in 2019 — documented connections between industrial projects and increased violence against Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people.

Knowledge keepers and other expert witnesses told the inquiry that “resource extraction projects can drive violence against Indigenous women in several ways,” the report noted, for instance because of a transient workforce, substance use, economic insecurity, rotational shift work, and workplace harassment and assault.

They argued that resource extraction projects “can lead to increased violence against Indigenous women at the hands of non-Indigenous men, as well as increased violence within Indigenous communities.”

Listed in the commission’s calls for justice report are several recommendations specifically for extractive and development industries. 

Those recommendations included that all projects undergo gender-based impact assessments that consider Indigenous women and girls’ safety. 

Woodfibre LNG says it did do such an assessment, with early input from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation.

Woodfibre website states that it set up a Gender Safety Advisory Committee in 2022 to recognize the “central importance of inclusion, economic participation, and safety of Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQIA people.” 

The committee — co-chaired by Woodfibre LNG President Christine Kennedy and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw Elder Gwen Harry — includes Indigenous and non-Indigenous women from Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, as well as representatives from Tsleil-Waututh Nation, local service providers, and regulatory bodies.

A seat at the table — or a compromise?

For more than 40 years, PearlSpace has served as a frontline resource for women and gender-diverse people in Skwxwú7mesh, Lil’wat and Stl’átl’imx territories, offering emergency shelter, emotional support, sexual assault response, and drop-in services for as many as 60 people a day. 

But in recent years, the organization has also taken on a more complicated role — as a participant on Woodfibre LNG’s Gender Safety Advisory Committee, and a recipient of donations from the company.

Ashley Oakes, PearlSpace’s executive director, said she didn’t enter that relationship lightly. 

“I felt like it was my responsibility to be there,” she told IndigiNews, describing the company’s years of engagement as challenging. In those days, she recalled, advocates felt they had to push the company to even acknowledge gender-based violence was a risk related to their project. 

“The focus was on broad community safety,” Oakes said, “which is just not really narrowing in enough on the real worries of the populations we serve, Skwxwú7mesh Nation, and the impacts on Indigenous women and girls.”

Oakes hopes her presence at the table allows her to push directly for more safety measures through a lens of gender-based violence — both in Skwxwú7mesh, and on board the floating work camp itself. 

“If no one’s at the table from this side of things,” she said, “then I worry that accountability won’t necessarily be the same.”

Oakes said she supports efforts from Woodfibre’s to recruit more women onto the site — currently about one-third of workers on board are women — but she noted that culture doesn’t change automatically with representation.

“That’s where code of conduct enforcement really comes into play,” she said.

PearlSpace, which started  receiving community grants from Woodfibre LNG and FortisBC “well before” Oakes joined the Gender Safety Advisory Committee, she said, emphasized her role is unpaid.

“I did say, and they agreed, that at no point would I be softening my approach with the companies,” she added, “even if they were giving us money.”

But Brown questioned the effectiveness of a company-led committee. “I don’t feel comfortable candidly talking about women’s safety in a room full of Woodfibre people,” she said.

Since the floatel started taking on workers, Oakes’s focus has broadened — to include their well-being as well.

Because non-local workers can’t come into town, many of them are cut off and isolated. 

She raised questions about how the company is handling workplace mental health, safety, and the enforcement of its code of conduct — especially when it comes to Indigenous women and gender-diverse people on staff.

She’s visited the floatel once, before it docked. And after she pointed out several safety suggestions, those were since implemented, she said. 

Asked about how many reports of bullying, harassment or violence the committee has received, Oakes replied by email that the committee does receive regular reports — but referred further questions to Woodfibre LNG, citing confidentiality. 

She added that, to her knowledge, no one accessing PearlSpace’s services has yet disclosed a violent event related to the project.

In an email, Woodfibre told IndigiNews there have been two incidents of harassment and bullying reported on the floatel. 

“In both cases,” the company spokesperson wrote, “the individuals involved were employees of project contractors and were immediately removed from site and have been permanently banned from working on the project.”

Woodfibre LNG stated that more than 4,800 people have completed “gender and cultural safety programs” as part of their mandatory site orientation. 

“This training is a foundational element of our approach,” the company said, “designed to ensure every person on site understands our shared values and behavioral expectations.”

Fear of repercussions may dissuade women’s complaints: lawyer

Brown believes that the low figure of harassment and violence documented so far could be due to underreporting, because women are often afraid to complain about bullying or harassment, for fear of repercussions.

When complaints aren’t surfacing, said Brown, that may not mean there’s nothing to report.

Instead, it could equally mean the reporting systems themselves aren’t working. 

“And if the public doesn’t have access to reports or data, there’s no accountability,” she said.

For Brown, violence against women is a clear human rights issue — one that governments and regulators must take responsibility for addressing. “Without accountability, those responsibilities are effectively meaningless,” Brown argued. “They’re not accountable to the community, to Skwxwú7mesh Nation, or to the government — they’re accountable to their shareholders.”

Plans for a second floatel

On May 1, Woodfibre announced it is seeking to place a second floatel at the worksite, accommodating 900 more tradespeople. 

Its proposal is currently under consideration by the District of Squamish for a temporary use permit, which is scheduled to be heard by municipal councillors on July 29.

And the province opened public consultations on the proposal earlier this month, with public comment allowed until Aug. 2.

“I just feel helpless.” Tiaoutenaat sat, casting a troubled glance towards the Woodfibre plant, just across the water. 

“They disregard human life, disregard the environment.”

Woodfibre hopes that adding a second floatel will accelerate construction. 

“If we can have more workers on site, working parallel on different levels of construction, we’re going to be able to finish the project as quickly as we can,” said Woodfibre spokesperson Sean Beardow at a July 2 public hearing.

As the District of Squamish prepares to make its decision, Tiaoutenaat and the group My Sea to Sky are raising concerns about the proposed location of a second floatel — directly below a dam — and what they allege are safety risks to workers housed there.

In a letter obtained by IndigiNews, Graham Parkinson — a senior geoscientist at Klohn Crippen Berger engineering consulting firm — warned of the danger posed by a potential dam breach. 

The Henriette Lake Dam, owned by Woodfibre LNG, sits above the proposed floatel site, in a valley that channels water directly to where the vessel would be moored.

Parkinson has responded to two dam-breach studies prepared by Northwest Hydraulic Consultants (NHC), a firm previously hired by Woodfibre LNG. 

However, only a one-page summary has been made public.

According to Parkinson, the summary “appears to underestimate the potential for ocean wave generation by a dam breach flood.” He said there are likely several reasons for this “that could be confirmed if the full report was made available.”

He also characterized the NHC summaries as “overly dismissive of potential ocean wave amplitudes, given the large amount of energy that will be deposited during a dam breach/debris flow event.” 

Such a failure of the dam could, for instance, be triggered by an earthquake.

According to an Oct. 12, 2023 letter released by My Sea to Sky, the province’s Dam Safety Section wrote that Woodfibre LNG reevaluated the chances of the dam failing — with the likelihood deemed “moderate,” but the consequence “extreme.”

Yet Woodfibre’s summary of the NHC studies still state that “a breach of Henriette Dam would not result in any significant wave activity within Howe Sound.”

In Saxby’s view, the company’s response doesn’t reflect the severity of the risk.

“While Woodfibre LNG has now been operating without a [municipal] permit for over a year with a clear disregard for the safety of its workers,” wrote Saxby in an email to the District of Squamish. “the company is now planning to double the number of workers housed below Henriette Lake Dam from 650 to 1,300 workers.”

Saxby cited a deadly landslide in Lions Bay that killed two people earlier this year; the incident is being investigated to determine whether a dam located above the debris flow could have caused the tragedy. Neighbours of the deceased sued the owner of that dam.

As Tiaoutenaat sees it, the land and waters underneath the floatel, the LNG plant, and the gas pipeline belong first to the wildlife that have depended on them since time immemorial — despite decades of polluting industries.

“All the sea lions, the herring, the whales,” said Tiaoutenaat, “they’re only just starting to come back.”

Tiaoutenaat wonders what Sḵwx̱wú7mesh will be like in 10 years. Fears about climate change — and how another fossil fuel project could accelerate it — weighs heavily on her.

“I’m angry because I feel like we’re contributing to that,” she said. “I feel responsible, and I shouldn’t have to carry that.”  

But she says one thing she won’t do is give up.

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