Canada’s major banks are funding 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.
In January 2020, 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] Despite facing harassment from the RCMP, the Wet’suwet’en land defenders are defending the headwaters of a sacred and life-sustaining river, the Wedzin Kwa — where CGL started drilling a few weeks ago, disrupting the salmon migration. [2]
“Follow the money,” they say. When you do, you see that Canada’s Big 5 banks are bankrolling the construction of this pipeline. [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.
*This petition text has been updated to reflect onground changes.
Sources
[1] 'We still have title': How a landmark B.C. court case set the stage for Wet'suwet'en protests
[3] Bank Track: Coastal GasLink pipeline (under "Financiers")
[4] Wet'suwet'en Letter to the Coastal GasLink Project Investors
[5] What the International Energy Agency’s path to net-zero means for Canada’s oil and gas industry
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