The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that staunch opposition by some first nations is threatening Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's hopes for an oil pipeline across Northern British Columbia, weeks before her government plans to file an application for a project. The Globe's Jeffrey Jones and Justine Hunter write that Alberta has floated a series of route options for the one-million-barrel-a-day proposal to ship crude to the West Coast. Some indigenous nations have already voiced opposition to them, saying they would not agree to an oil conduit crossing their territories or any move to weaken a ban on tanker loadings off the northern coast. The pipeline is the centrepiece of a memorandum of understanding between Alberta and the federal government. Both governments have faced criticism for not bringing first nations into the planning much sooner in the process, as has become the accepted procedure for developing major projects. Negotiations have not formally started, though Alberta's Energy Ministry was reported to have held meetings in Prince Rupert in May. The Nisga'a Lisims Government, whose territory includes the Nass River region northeast of Prince Rupert, remains opposed to an oil pipeline.