Protect the Inlet media conference Friday with indigenous elders from Vancouver, Standing Rock (South Dakota)
Two Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline rallies are planned for Metro Vancouver on Saturday, one for and one against. The “Protect the Inlet” March, organized by the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and indigenous activists, will begin mid-morning in Burnaby. In the afternoon, the “Rally in Vancouver for Our Shared Future,” organized by Resource Works, will start at 2 p.m.
Protect the Inlet claims to have over 7,000 people registered for the march, which starts at the Lake City Way Skytrain station and should last an hour.
The “mobilization is the latest chapter of resistance against the problem-plagued pipeline and will be a major escalation point in the high-pressure battle” against the Kinder Morgan project, according to the organization’s website.
“Since this pipeline was first conceived, Tsleil-Waututh members have been protecting our territory from proposed oil flowing through our lands, and tankers intruding into our Inlet. Now, we are asking you to stand with us in our defence of the lands and waters,” says the website.
“Our members, spiritual leaders, and youth will be on the land practicing our culture and spirit as we have for time immemorial. We will use our presence to stop Kinder Morgan.”
The rally in support of the Trans Mountain Expansion project will take place at Jack Poole Plaza, 1085 Canada Place, in Vancouver.
“Plenty of people in Metro Vancouver understand that the transition to a clean energy future is underway but is not something that will happen overnight. It requires long-term commitment to innovation, including in how we safely ship commodities across the water,” said Stewart Muir, executive director of Resource Works, in an email.
“The particular trade that equips Vancouver (and Canada) to procure [imported consumer goods] is that which involves energy, primarily crude oil. Unless we are ready to renounce the imported goods most people take for granted, we have to ensure we are building the safest energy infrastructure and practices. The overwhelming evidence is that we’re more than capable of doing that right now.”
Muir says it it would be unfair to future generations of Canadians if the nation was denied the building blocks of prosperity and sovereignty that come from responsibly managed energy infrastructure.
“The Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion has met, and exceeded, every requirement put in its path. The pollsters are consistently telling us that most people support crude oil exports so long as they are done right,” he said.
“It’s about time decent, hardworking educated citizens made a show of their unity and here is the chance.”
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