The Jumbo Glacier ski resort has been given a giant boost by the B.C. government, but still faces major opposition from First Nations and environmental groups.

To be located on Jumbo Mountain glacier, 57 kilometres west of Invermere, the planned luxury ski resort will feature up to 23 lifts and a gondola that would reach the 3,000-metre mark. The resort would become “North America’s only year-round glacier-based ski resort,” the company said on Tuesday.

B.C. Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations Minister Steve Thomson said he has approved the resort’s “master development agreement,” which he said will allow the project to proceed.

“After more than 20 years of comprehensive and exhaustive reviews, it was time to make a decision,” Thomson said in a statement.

Glacier Resorts Ltd. senior vice-president Grant Costello said Jumbo could be a “dream ski area and mountain destination for Canada.”

Costello said the B.C. government’s backing should help stimulate investors.

“Funding is not yet in place,” said Costello, adding that the first $50-million phase of the resort, to eventually cost $450 million, should begin soon.

Ktunaxa First Nation council chair Kathryn Teneese said the site, called Qat’muk, is “a pristine glacier of great significance. If this resort, with massive negative impacts goes ahead, we as a people will be forever changed.”

Costello notes Glacier has the support of the nearby Shuswap Indian band.

But Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, predicted “there will be litigation and opposition on the ground.”

Phillip noted that opposition to the Apex ski resort near Penticton led to the bankruptcy of one operator and an agreement to consult with First Nations before the ski resort went ahead, on a much-reduced scale.

New Democrat leader Adrian Dix said Jumbo “doesn’t meet any economic tests, will cause real damage to the ecosystem and is opposed by First Nations.”

Dix said there is no proven market for more luxury B.C. ski resorts and said taxpayers will wind up picking up the tab for infrastructure.

“This is an appalling decision,” said Western Canada Wilderness Committee spokesman Joe Foy, saying the mega-resort will damage wildlife habitat, including an important grizzly bear range.