No to Corporate Profiteering
Socialist Alternative Canada joins organizations across Canada and the US in calling for the big banks to divest from the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline. Supporters and allies of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have called for the December 20th Week of Action to #DefundCoastalGasLink. In 2020, 27 banks from around the world financed a loan of $6.8 billion CAD (USD $4.8 billion) to pay for the construction of the CGL pipeline, which runs through Wet’suwet’en territory. The pipeline is slated to carry fracked gas to LNG Canada, a massive liquefied natural gas project backed by five major oil and gas companies. This pipeline, if built, is another blow to the unfolding climate disaster in BC.
BC’s Climate Disaster
If anyone was in doubt about the reality or consequences of climate change, in 2021 this became all too apparent to British Columbians. 2021’s climate disaster unfolded in waves starting with the precedent-setting heat dome in June, the burning to the ground of the town of Lytton, forest fires raging across the province, followed by an extremely rainy autumn with recording-breaking floods, cutting off BC’s lower mainland from the rest of BC and Canada. Both the heat waves and flooding had devastating consequences for the people and environment. An estimated one billion sea animals perished in the heat and close to 600 people died in BC. The floods of November resulted in thousands of people being displaced, some losing their homes to the flooding. Mudslides killed several people. Both disasters broke all-time records (for heat and rainfall) in several places by significant degrees.
It is clear that building more pipelines will add insult to injury, contributing further to the climate catastrophe. What kind of future will there be for young people and future generations if this is what we are seeing now?
Wet’suwet’en Rights Trampled
The construction of the pipeline and its financial backing not only contributes to the intensification of the climate disaster, but it is also a direct attack on the rights of Wet’suwet’en. As First Peoples Law points out in The Wet’suwet’en Aboriginal Title and the Rule of Law, it was the Wet’suwet’en and Gitxsan Hereditary Chiefs who were the plaintiffs in the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisday’way Supreme Court of Canada case. The courts recognized the nation’s hereditary governance structure with the clan and house system as the organizing principle of Wet’suwet’en society and heard extensive evidence about Wet’suwet’en title and rights and but “ultimately the Supreme Court refused to issue a declaration in favour of the Wet’suwet’en because of a technicality in the pleadings. The parties were left to either negotiate a resolution or begin a new trial.” However, the principles established by Delgamuukw were restated and summarized in Tsilhqot’in. There, the Court said that Aboriginal title “cannot be alienated except to the Crown or encumbered in ways that would prevent future generations of the group from using and enjoying it. Nor can the land be developed or misused in a way that would substantially deprive future generations of the benefit of the land.”
In a letter to investors signed by several Hereditary Chiefs, they made it clear that Coastal GasLink does not have the free, prior and informed consent:
On January 4, 2020, the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en, representing all five clans issued an eviction notice to Coastal GasLink, which still stands. Access to Cas Yikh house group territory was shut down. On January 13, 2020, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) set up an “exclusion zone” and began to block media, Wet’suwet’en people, and food from entering our territory. Following this, on February 6, 2020, militarized police conducted a five-day military raid on the resistance camps on Cas Yikh and Unist’ot’en land and illegally evicted us and our matriarchs and land defenders. The police used assault rifles, snipers, dogs, sound cannons, and helicopters on Indigenous elders and youth. The militarized police presence on our territory continues to this day. Nevertheless, despite these outrageous attempts to criminalize and impede us from asserting our jurisdiction and sovereignty, resistance to the Coastal GasLink project has continued to spread, including rail blockades, port shutdowns, government office occupations, sit-ins at legislatures across the country and at banks investing in the illegal pipeline project. It is becoming inarguably clear that projects lacking free, prior and informed consent from Indigenous communities should not and can not be built. While we are currently in negotiations with federal and provincial government ministers to have our land rights and title recognized and upheld, this does not mean there is agreement with respect to Coastal GasLink. We remain unequivocally opposed to oil and gas pipelines on our territories and are determined to continue to protect our lands, air, and water. For us, neither fracked gas nor any other fossil fuels is part of a just climate strategy.
Financial Backers
RBC tops the list of ten Canadian financial institutions who have financed the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Others include the Bank of Montreal, CIBC, Scotiabank, TD, Canadian Western Bank, ATB Financial, the National Bank of Canada, Export Development Canada, and Raymond James Finance Co of Canada, Ltd. US financers include JP Morgan Chase, the Bank of America, Citi and Truist. The National Australian Bank is another investor, as well as financial institutions from several other countries.
As the largest financer, RBC is the target of organizing efforts in Vancouver this week with three events planned at different RBC branches. RBC has profited from climate change and ignored Indigenous rights. In 2021, its profits are $16.1 billion, up from a profit the previous year of $11.4 billion. Since the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gases, Canada’s big five banks – RBC, Scotiabank, TD, BMO and CIBC – have provided over $700 billion to fossil fuel companies. RBC is the fifth worst offender in the world.
It is clear that to protect the rights of Indigenous communities and mitigate climate disaster, the financial institutions must be taken into public ownership.
BC’s NDP Government
We can’t let the NDP government in BC off the hook. They have given billions in subsidies to the pipeline and processing plant. It is under the watch of the NDP that the three violent RCMP assaults on Wet’suwet’en were sanctioned. However, this is not the first time the NDP has overseen military-style operations against Indigenous communities. In 1995, a previous NDP government, in the Gustafsen Lake Stand-off, sent in 400 heavily armed RCMP officers, 5 helicopters, 2 surveillance planes and 9 military-loaned Armoured Personnel Carriers. The RCMP fired 77,000 rounds of ammunition.
Just two years ago, the NDP government brought in legislation to agree the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP), yet they did not stop the RCMP from raiding Wet’suwet’en territory. Under the agreement between the province of BC and the RCMP, the RCMP are charged with implementing “the provincial policing objectives, priorities and goals as determined by the Provincial Minister.” They could decide not to arrest land defenders. However, their actions speak louder than their words.
A Socialist Alternative is Needed
It is clear that capitalism focuses on maximum profits for investors. It is not concerned with meeting human needs, providing good jobs, protecting Indigenous rights or sustaining a livable planet. Under capitalism, all human needs, rights and well being are sacrificed to profits. The profits of the banks are directly related to the exploitation of people and the planet. Combatting climate change requires international cooperation and planning. A socialist world would use human skill and ingenuity to create well being for humans and nature. A socialist world would offer a brighter future for youth and generations to come.
