"OTTAWA/TORONTO - An indigenous community opposing construction of a gas pipeline in Canada launched a legal challenge on Wednesday over the climate impact of fossil fuel projects on indigenous territories while Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged pipeline protesters blocking rail lines to find a quick solution.

Hereditary chiefs of Wet’suwet’en Nation asked the federal court to declare that “Canada has a constitutional duty to keep the country’s greenhouse gas emissions within the Paris Agreement limit.”

The hereditary chiefs are at odds with the indigenous community’s elected officials, who have supported the Coastal Gaslink route of the pipeline project in British Columbia. The hereditary chiefs say that they, and not the elected officials, hold authority over traditional lands."

Steve Scherer and Denise Paglinawan report for Reuters February 12, 2020. [2]