Indigenous protesters have interrupted a small but hotly contested oilsands project by winning a treaty rights verdict in the Alberta Court of Appeal.

The decision enforced territorial entitlements of the Fort McKay First Nation (FMFN) by overturning approval from the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) for Prosper Petroleum Ltd.’s 10,000 b/d Rigel project.

The court remanded the approval to the AER for a second review of the C$440 million ($330 million) project that recognizes native rights and upholds “the honor of the Crown,” the Canadian legal phrase for government duty to keep promises.

The regulator’s reconsideration of Rigel must take into account a co-operative land use policy in preparation by FMFN and the provincial cabinet called the Moose Lake Access Management Program, said the verdict.

While the tribe called the case “a historic victory for treaty rights and indigenous communities,” the verdict fell short of a coup against the oil industry for the leave-it-in-the-ground faction of hardcore fossil fuel opponents.

“From the start, Fort McKay wanted only fair consideration of our 20-year struggle to protect Moose Lake as the last intact piece of wilderness in our traditional territory, even as it was encroached upon by oilsands development,” said FMFN said. “This decision provides everyone with clear direction and increases the certainty industry requires to make sound business decisions.”

Mammoth production sites surround the FMFN settlement 500 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of the Alberta capital, Edmonton. Oilsands operations employ Fort McKay residents and support its services. The tribe participates in the industry with community-owned enterprises in specialties such as earth moving, work camps and reclamation.

“We anticipate Alberta will approve the Moose Lake Plan in the late spring,” said FMFN. “We look forward to crossing the finish line.”

Prosper, a private Calgary company, described the appeal court verdict as a call for government action to improve the Alberta energy regulatory structure and provincial native relations policy.

The firm ran afoul of FMFN because the Rigel project would put natural gas-fired bitumen extraction wells and hardware within walking distance of tribal land. Proposals for the Moose Lake plan include a buffer zone between industry and native territory.