Opinion: Protests against pipeline continue in Vancouver

By Kathleen Imbert

At the Paris climate conference on Nov. 30, 2015, Prime M Justin Trudeau signs COP21 commitment to keep a 2% limit on global warming stating five (5) principals to be guidelines for actions. Number three (3), he said, “We will work with our Indigenous leaders who are taking a leadership role on climate change…”

On Nov, 29, 2016, Trudeau approves two major pipelines, Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion, and Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline. The Trans Mountain expansion (TMX) would triple the capacity of an existing pipeline network that links the Edmonton and Vancouver regions, shipping roughly 890,000 barrels of crude oil and petroleum per day.

The French call this sort of speaking ‘a language of wood’ – a doublespeak. Indigenous people call it speaking with a forked tongue, in other words, lying. Is Trudeau guilty of this talk? His idea to make oil companies pay a carbon tax to keep in terms of our COP21 agreement is akin to a common belief that we can build water cleaning plants with all the taxes to clean our waters.

It took one year to adopt that language in Trudeau’s speaking and reasoning (if we can call it that). Someone who thinks, believes or reasons that you can buy clean water has been misled or convinced otherwise by business interests.

The petrol industry knows how to play the government game and lobby with big dollar carrots. “The energy sector has to be protected”, some say, and “according to a report published Monday February 26 by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), is warning the Canadian government that it needs an energy strategy to protect Canada’s energy sector, which generated $19 billion in government revenue in 2015″. Climate Finance and Carbon Markets in Canada generate wealth through royalties and carbon taxes, transferring huge sums to governments to redistribute and make themselves look good in the eyes of an electorate.

“Reduce what you can, offset what you can’t,” carbonfund.org‘s trademark sums up these markets’ mechanisms.  Making the petrol industry pay carbon taxes to offset the carbon producing expansion of the petrol industry so that our governments can redistribute funds to other industry is a logic hard to wrap ones’ mind around.

350.org, a global grassroots climate movement promote and encourage building diverse coalitions that are strong enough to put pressure on governments and stand up to the fossil fuel industry. They believe and encourage public activism because “world leaders are incapable of solving this problem on their own. We need to get out in the streets and make our voices heard — that is how we demonstrate our power as a movement, and that is how we force our governments to make the right decisions.” (350.org)

Saturday, Mar. 10, 2018, on Burnaby mountain in Vancouver, over 10, 000 people protested in a march to stop the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion led by Okanagan Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, Penticton Indian Band councillor Joan Phillip, Squamish spiritual leader Robert Nahanee, Dakota and Chickasaw spiritual leader and educator Phil Lane Jr, hereditary Wet’suwet’en Chief Na’Moks, hereditary Wet’suwet’en Chief Dziggot.

“My ancestors built Kwekwecnewtxw — ‘a place to watch from’ — when danger threatened our people. And danger threatens our people now, as Kinder Morgan tries to send hazardous diluted bitumen through our territory,” Swaysǝn Will George wrote in his newsletter calling for civil disobedience to stop the pipeline.

Shain Jackson, lawyer, and artist designed the Watch House that is the heart of the protesters’ campaign. The resistance is in the midst of organization, the door of the Watch House is in place,” jail supporters are being trained to track arrests, getting all info from arrestees, supporting the scene, talking with witnesses for statements”, said Nancy Smith, lawyer and Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory citizen and lead texter for the protest.

On the protecttheinlet.ca website, it asks you if you are ready to take bold action and to agree to five (5) conditions. “This is an all-hands on deck moment: we have until March 26 before Kinder Morgan completes essential tree-clearing work.”

If we take action together, we can protect the water, protect the land, and keep this pipeline out of the ground.

• I will respect and listen to Coast Salish jurisdiction on their unceded territory
• I will not bring weapons of any kind. Violence of any kind will not be tolerated.
• I will not cause any destruction to the land, water, property, or people
• I will not bring alcohol and/or drugs of any kind
• If I fail to abide by Indigenous protocol, or disrespect Elders and/or members of the community, I may be required to leave

On Nov. 29, 2016, the date that Trudeau approved the Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain expansion and Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline, he knew that he, the Alberta government and the petrol industry would face resistance from the Indigenous Nations and environmental activists.

The fight has begun and the interim injunction granted last week by a British Columbia Supreme Court judge aimed at preventing anti-pipeline activists from protesting construction at two terminals in Burnaby is its declaration.

“The people who are named with me in this injunction are people of great conscience, people who are aware, peaceful, and people who are standing up for what our courts and what our politicians have not been able to stand up for,” said Ruth Leibik, who is named in the notice of civil claim.

In the last four days, six protesters have been arrested for mischief. As the hearings and protests progress, each camp in crisis mode and on the murky bitumen warpath, are readying up for a serious globalization battle.