Dozens of people took part in a rally Thursday afternoon at the foot of Place Ville-Marie, where RBC’s Montreal offices are located, to demand that the bank stop funding the fossil fuel industry infrastructure, including the TransMountain pipeline and Coastal GasLink pipeline projects.
Chief Na’Moks, Tsayu Hereditary Chief of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, traveled from British Columbia for the occasion. The Coastal GasLink pipeline must cross its country’s territory to connect Dawson Creek to Kitimat – a project worth 6 billion dollars.
However, the situation is tense on the ground. The band council has an agreement with the developers, but this agreement is not recognized by hereditary leaders like Chief Na’Moks.
Thus, construction workers faced intense resistance from Wet’suwet’en and their allies, which made headlines in 2020, before the pandemic, by blocking railway lines across Canada.
Recently, the RCMP intensified its presence on the ground following a “violent confrontation” that took place in February.
To stop Coastal GasLink, Amnesty International Canada Francophone, Greenpeace Canada, Extinction Rebellion Quebec and other groups, in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation, are forcing RBC to withdraw its funding.
At their invitation, nearly a hundred demonstrators moved into downtown Montreal on Thursday. Your voice is louder than this building, launched the leader Na’Moks, at the foot of Place Ville-Marie. Their money is ruining the world.
Innu activist Mélissa Mollen-Dupuis participated in the rally. We want to provide support, as the issues raised by Chief Na’Moks affect all indigenous communities.he explained in an interview with Radio-Canada.
One of the messages he shared with us exactly in our meetings the other day was: everything we do on Earth, we do it for the communities, for the people around us. Even foreigners are affected.
RBC defended itself
RBC representatives refused to meet with Chief Na’Moks during his stay in Montreal.
In a statement sent to Radio-Canada, corporate communications director Rafael Ruffolo, however, assured that the bank respects everyone has the right to have their voice heard at to do it peacefully.
The RBC, he continues, is supportive an inclusive transition through funding innovative, responsible and changeable projects so that meet energy needs from the future.
Our lives, economy and security today depend on continued access to energy as far as alternative sources are possible.underlined Mr. Ruffolo.
The movement to get RBC to withdraw from the Coastal Gaslink project became violent last week, when one of its leaders, former Conservative minister Michael Fortier, was targeted by arsonists.
In the middle of the night, the perpetrators set fire to two vehicles in front of his home in Mount Royal. No one was injured, but the fire could have spread to the residence.
The crime was claimed on a prominent anarchist website. No one indicates anything related to the demonstrators who chose to express themselves peacefully Thursday in downtown Montreal.
There is information from Sébastien Desrosiers
Source: Radio-Canada
