FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - IHRP files request for precautionary measures against Canada to protect Indigenous communities threatened by Enbridge's Line 5

TORONTO, ONTARIO – Today, the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) at the University of Toronto’s Jackman Faculty of Law filed a request for precautionary measures with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against Canada regarding Line 5. The transnational oil pipeline is a direct threat to Indigenous communities of the Great Lakes. 

Line 5 is a 70-year-old pipeline that transports 23 million gallons of crude oil and natural gas every day between Wisconsin and Ontario, cutting through the traditional territories of the Anishinaabe Indigenous Peoples. 

The IHRP request was filed on behalf of five U.S. Tribal Nations — those most directly affected by the pipeline — including Bay Mills Indian Community. The request warns of Line 5’s documented aged infrastructure, and cites concerns with Enbridge's alleged failure to properly maintain the pipeline and comply with safety protocols.  

The combination of these factors creates an imminent risk of a catastrophic oil spill in the Straits of Mackinac that would irreversibly contaminate and destroy the water, fish, wildlife, and land near the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes are an ecosystem central to the subsistence, livelihood, and cultural survival of the Indigenous Tribes represented in the request.   

“Our people have lived in relationship with the Great Lakes since the beginning of time, and our responsibility to protect these waters is not optional, it is fundamental to who we are,” says Whitney Gravelle, President of Bay Mills Indian Community. “Canada’s continued support of the aging Line 5 dual pipelines disregards the rights and safety of Indigenous Nations on both sides of the border. We are calling for the immediate, preventative action to safeguard the waters that sustain us and future generations.”  

Despite serious concerns cited by experts, Canada is continuing to actively support Line 5 through financial subsidies and legal intervention. For example, Line 5 is currently the subject of two U.S. lawsuits that have ordered sections of the pipeline to be shut down or re-routed, but Canada has intervened in both proceedings, supporting Enbridge, and invoking the 1977 Pipeline Treaty. The rarely used bi-lateral agreement between Canada and the U.S. limiting unilateral disruptions to cross-border pipelines ignores serious environmental and human rights risks. 

Multiple UN bodies and independent experts have warned that the continued operation of Line 5 poses urgent environmental and human rights risks and have called on Canada and the U.S. to decommission the pipeline. This includes multiple recommendations from the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues calling on Canada and the U.S. to decommission the pipeline, noting that Line 5’s continued operation jeopardizes treaty-protected rights, Indigenous cultures, and internationally recognized human rights obligations. Additionally, both the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation and the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples have called on Canada to suspend Line 5 until the free, prior, and informed consent of the Indigenous peoples affected is secured. 

“The warnings are clear — the consequences of inaction by Canada could be irreversible,” says Sandra Wisner, IHRP Director. 

The five U.S. Tribal Nations represented in the request are the Bay Mills Indian Community, Little Traverse Bay Band, Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, and Little River Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians.  

“Given the well-documented risks associated with Line 5’s aging infrastructure, precautionary measures are not only prudent, but necessary,” says Nabila Khan, IHRP Research Associate.  

The request urges the IACHR to order the Canadian government to effectively regulate Enbridge and to end its ongoing support of Line 5, including withdrawing its invocation of the 1977 Pipeline Treaty and its positions in US litigation opposing decommissioning Line 5. 

Read the full request to the IACHR here.