The Canadian government has invoked an international treaty with the United States to avoid a possible distribution of Enbridge Inc.’s Line 5 oil pipeline in the latest chapter of a tribal suit against the company.

Enbridge Line 5

Federal Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly activated the 1977 Pipeline Transit Treaty to enforce the treaty’s ban against agencies in either country “impeding, diverting, redirecting or interfering with in any way the transmission of hydrocarbon in transit.”

Joly cited “serious concerns regarding the possible shutting down of Line 5,” a 540,000 b/d international oil conduit serving Ontario and Quebec, as well as U.S. Midwest markets. Since 2019, the Bad River LaPointe Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians has been fighting a legal battle...