There is increasing visibility and support for the LANDBACK movement and what the Wet’suwet’en people are doing now.
As you read this, the RCMP’s force is being used against land defenders standing against the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline project, which severely violates Indigenous rights, poses a major risk to the ecosystems including local food sources, and increases fossil fuels production when we need to cut them. If built, the pipeline would carry fracked gas from northeast BC to a not-yet-built liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the coast – the largest LNG project ever proposed in Canada.
Last year, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs issued an eviction notice to CGL, which still stands. The Wet’suwet’en Nation has also won a landmark case before the Supreme Court, recognizing their authority over their traditional territories. [1] They are now defending the headwaters of a sacred and life-sustaining river, the Wedzin Kwa, where CGL is trying to start up a drill site. [2]
“Follow the money,” they say. When you do, you see that Canada’s Big 5 banks are bankrolling the construction of this pipeline with loans totalling $1.575 billion. [3] These banks — RBC, TD, Scotiabank, BMO and CIBC — are essentially using your money, your savings, to invest in the dirty business of fossil fuels even while making public commitments to respect Indigenous rights and act on climate change.
Cutting off the money pipeline is the fastest way to kill this project. The Wet’suwet’en Nation has called for all investors and financiers of CGL to divest and remove all financial support for this pipeline. [4] The International Energy Agency has also clearly said that fossil fuel expansion is not an option to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. [5]
Show the banks you support the Wet’suwet’en land defenders. A project that creates short-term profits and extends a legacy of colonialism and ecological destruction through militarized police presence is the opposite of the just climate action we need.
Send an email to the CEOs of the Big 5 banks to tell them that you do not support fossil fuel colonialism and neither should they.
Sources
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/delgamuukw-court-ruling-significance-1.5461763
[2] https://thenarwhal.ca/wetsuweten-coastal-gaslink-explainer/
[3] https://www.banktrack.org/project/coastal_gaslink_pipeline/0/www.edc.ca (under “Financiers”)
LANDBACK Friends 