{"id":101738,"date":"2026-01-29T15:35:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:35:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=101738"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:35:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:35:49","slug":"coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Coastal First Nations hit back after pundits and politicians challenge its legitimacy in pipeline debate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Disagreements over a proposal to build a pipeline to the BC coast has ignited a debate over who has the right to speak on behalf of First Nations. After Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta to advance a new bitumen pipeline to the Pacific coast, he met with Coastal First Nations (CFN) leaders in January. BC Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer jumped in on X(formerly Twitter) to label CFN \u201cjust an advocacy group,\u201d like a brand name. Fulmer claimed it is funded by foreign anti-energy groups and said if he becomes premier he will ban any foreign-funded organizations that attempt to influence BC politics. The Coastal First Nations are an alliance of eight First Nationsand&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F29%2Fcoastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Disagreements over a proposal to build a pipeline to the BC coast has ignited a debate over who has the right to speak on behalf of First Nations. After Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta to advance a new bitumen pipeline to the Pacific coast, he met with Coastal First Nations (CFN) leaders in January. BC Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer jumped in on X(formerly Twitter) to label CFN \u201cjust an advocacy group,\u201d like a brand name. Fulmer claimed it is funded by foreign anti-energy groups and said if he becomes premier he will ban any foreign-funded organizations that attempt to influence BC politics. The Coastal First Nations are an alliance of eight First Nationsand... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F01%2F29%2Fcoastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Coastal First Nations hit back after pundits and politicians challenge its legitimacy in pipeline debate - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coastal First Nations hit back after pundits and politicians challenge its legitimacy in pipeline debate - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada&#8217;s National Observer Disagreements over a proposal to build a pipeline to the BC coast has ignited a debate over who has the right to speak on behalf of First Nations. After Prime Minister Mark Carney signed a memorandum of understanding with Alberta to advance a new bitumen pipeline to the Pacific coast, he met with Coastal First Nations (CFN) leaders in January. BC Conservative leadership candidate Yuri Fulmer jumped in on X(formerly Twitter) to label CFN \u201cjust an advocacy group,\u201d like a brand name. Fulmer claimed it is funded by foreign anti-energy groups and said if he becomes premier he will ban any foreign-funded organizations that attempt to influence BC politics. The Coastal First Nations are an alliance of eight First Nationsand\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/29\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-29T20:35:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/29\\\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/29\\\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Coastal First Nations hit back after pundits and politicians challenge its legitimacy in pipeline debate\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-29T20:35:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/29\\\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1253,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/29\\\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/29\\\/coastal-first-nations-hit-back-after-pundits-and-politicians-challenge-its-legitimacy-in-pipeline-debate\\\/\",\"name\":\"Coastal First Nations hit back after pundits and politicians challenge its legitimacy in pipeline debate - 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