Ottawa has granted the West Coast oil pipeline known as Pacific Link its first "national interest" designation under the Building Canada Act, capping a consultation window that ran just two months — and that only after Indigenous leaders pushed the federal government to double its original one-month timeline.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the designation Thursday in Fort McMurray, alongside Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. The designation, the first issued under the controversial Building Canada Act, will streamline oversight and approvals for the project. Ottawa says it will spend the coming year completing consultations on the pipeline itself, securing environmental safeguards, financing and Indigenous partnerships. The government wants construction to begin in September 2027.

The consultation record, posted online by the federal government, shows how compressed the process was. The Major Projects Office sent letters to affected communities in July to begin consultations. More than 130 Indigenous communities could be affected by the pipeline route. The office held over 140 meetings with representatives from more than 110 Indigenous organizations and communities before the designation was issued.

The original consultation deadline of Aug. 28 was extended to Sept. 18 after Indigenous communities warned that summer harvesting, ceremonial gatherings and wildfires — which forced evacuations in many communities — would constrain their ability to participate. Carney's designation came only 12 days after that extended deadline.

A summary of the consultations says Indigenous groups decried a lack of information about the project, which they said prevented them from fully assessing its impact. Community leaders told the office they lacked details on routing, engineering and design, environmental effects, marine shipping, emergency response and impacts on Aboriginal and treaty rights. Those concerns came both from communities that backed the project and those that did not.

Despite the compressed timeline, the federal document says the Major Projects Office is satisfied it provided a meaningful opportunity for consultation. "The GIC is satisfied that these processes provide an appropriate framework through which potential adverse impacts on Aboriginal and treaty rights, including specific concerns already raised in consultation, can be further addressed before any final federal authorizations are issued," the document states.

A senior government official, briefing reporters ahead of the announcement on condition of anonymity, said it is likely the national interest designation will be challenged in court.

The Assembly of First Nations told The Canadian Press it has identified "many red flags" in the designation and says the federal government appears to be predetermining outcomes and approving projects in advance of meaningful consultation.

"The government's decision today is coming only 12 days after the consultation deadline. As we have said on many occasions, First Nations support economic development and prosperity for all, but not at the expense of our rights, the planet, and the government's legal obligations to our people," the AFN statement says.

The dispute turns on legal obligations Carney has pledged to uphold. The prime minister promised his major projects agenda would not interfere with Canada's obligations under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which Canada adopted and which outlines the need for free, prior and informed consent before decisions that could adversely affect Indigenous rights and lands. Indigenous communities also hold recognized rights under Section 35 of the Constitution. The consultation document cites the UN declaration and says Ottawa's engagement efforts were designed with those principles in mind.

AFN National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak has said staff in the Major Projects Office do not understand how to work with First Nations communities and that "junior staffers" are not helping to build relationships. "They have a lot of work to do," she told a news conference in Ottawa last week. She also said office CEO Dawn Farrell has been unavailable to meet with leadership, including at Assembly of First Nations gatherings.

Cold Lake First Nations Chief Kelsey Jacko said the announcement does not reflect Carney's stated intentions of building a new relationship with First Nations and partnering on major project development. Even though his territory sits in the oilsands, he said, it has been left out of discussions that could affect lands and treaty rights.

"Yesterday the Treaty 6 chiefs shared grand entry with the prime minister, and I spoke to him briefly and invited him again to our nation," Jacko said, referring to Carney's participation in an event marking the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Wednesday. "Today, the leaders of the Nations and communities that will be heavily impacted should have been in the room. This runs right through our territory."

Support among affected communities is not uniform. Fort McKay First Nation Chief Raymond Powder said he felt both excited and concerned about the designation.

"We're excited that we get the opportunity to be a participant on the equity stakeholders and also really, really seeing the area for Fort McKay First Nation to continue to sustain the growth in our nation," Powder said after the announcement. "The areas of concern, of course, is always the challenge of the ecosystems and really being harmonious with the environment and balancing with the economy."

Powder said he has worked with the federal and provincial governments on the consultation process and described it as meaningful. "We've had some respectful conversations," he said. "Of course there's some complexities and some challenges and we're really addressing those with the federal and provincial governments and my brothers and sisters in the five First Nations within this region."

The watch item now is the year ahead: Ottawa must complete project-level consultations, secure environmental safeguards, financing and Indigenous partnerships before the September 2027 construction target — while bracing for the court challenge the senior official acknowledged is likely.