VANCOUVER -- For the second time in two years, First Nations groups from B.C. are arguing in federal court that the Canadian covernment’s decision to green light the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline should be quashed because Ottawa did not meaningfully consult with them.

The three-day hearing before the Federal Court of Appeal got underway Monday in Vancouver with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Squamish Nation, Coldwater Indian Band, and a coalition of other First Nations in the Fraser Valley, putting forward arguments that include the dialogue was poorly organized, rushed, and did not address First Nations’ concerns.

“Canada has repeated many of the errors that led to the original quashing of the pipeline,” Tsleil-Waututh Nation Chief Leah George-Wilson told a news conference shortly before court got underway. “And in some ways, consultation was worse than the first time around.”

In August 2018, the Federal Court of Appeal overturned Ottawa’s decision to move ahead with the pipeline expansion, which would triple capacity between Alberta and B.C., because of concerns that the impact on marine life, specifically orcas, wasn’t adequately addressed, and because of what the court called inadequate consultation with Indigenous groups.

Canada’s National Energy Board completed a new review on killer whale impact, and the government appointed a retired Supreme Court justice to oversee a second round of dialogue, before approving the project for a second time in June 2019.

But George-Wilson with the Tsliel-Waututh Nation said Monday that during the second set of talks “it was clear that Canada had already made up its mind.”

Among the complaints of the four First Nations groups: the government failed to meaningfully engage, rushed consultations on a “unilaterally-imposed timeline,” did not engage “with an open mind,” and proposed “generic” measures even before First Nations could raise their concerns.

“The government was sending a lot of note-takers to hear our concerns and not meaningfully addressing or following up,” said Khelsilem, spokesperson for the Squamish Nation.

In response, a spokesperson for Natural Resources Canada, the ministry responsible for government-owned project, defended the decision: “Consultations with Indigenous peoples involved meaningful, two way dialogue, which fulfilled the legal duty to consult and helped identify new accommodation measures and conditions to appropriately address potential impacts on Indigenous rights and concerns expressed by Indigenous communities.”

Natural Resources Canada went on to say that strong environmental protections have been and will continue to be put in place and “the government remains confident that it has taken the necessary steps to get this right.”

It is widely understood that the twinning of the Trans Mountain pipeline could increase tanker traffic through Burrard Inlet to-and-from the terminal in Burnaby by as much as seven-fold.

Under the Canadian Constitution, the federal government has a duty to consult with Indigenous groups on issues that impact their territory.

The current legal standard from Canada’s Supreme Court on what constitutes “adequate” consultation is that there must be “meaningful two-way dialogue," along with “serious considerations” about the “real and specific concerns” of Indigenous peoples.

In this appeal, the six First Nations’ originally involved referred to the current round of consultations as “window-dressing, box ticking and nice-sounding words,” the court wrote in its decision in September 2019 when it accepted the case.

Two of the First Nations reached agreements with Trans Mountain in November and are no longer taking part in the appeal.

The Federal Court of Appeal has indicated a decision will need to be made relatively quickly because of substantial public interest in the outcome.

First Nations’ groups have also filed to have their case heard directly by the Supreme Court of Canada, which has not yet made a decision.

Construction officially began on the expansion of the federally-owned pipeline, estimated to cost at least $7.4 billion, in Alberta earlier this month. Completion is expected by late 2022.