ACTIVIST CLAIM: Uninformed Hollywood Celebrities protest Coastal GasLink pipeline and RBC for violating Indigenous rights.
THE FACTS: Most of the First Nations along the route have invested and are owners in the pipeline – 100% have signed benefits agreements.
THE SOURCES:
FILM AND MUSIC STARS ARE CALLING ON CITY NATIONAL BANK’S PARENT COMPANY, RBC, TO STOP FUNDING THESE VIOLATIONS.
Here are some facts and sources to have a reasoned conversation about Indigenous Energy:
- 16 First Nations, including some along Coastal GasLink’s route, just signed an option to take a 10% equity stake in the pipeline project.
https://www.westerninvestor.com/british-columbia/sixteen-first-nations-to-take-equity-stake-in-coastal-gaslink-5146426
- 100% of elected First Nation councils along the pipeline route support Coastal GasLink and have signed benefits agreements for their communities. It is not the place of activist groups to determine what an Indigenous community can or can’t do.
https://www.coastalgaslink.com/sustainability/indigenous-relations/
- Over 13,900 Indigenous workers are directly employed in the oil and gas industry with 350 working on the Coastal GasLink project including Wet’suwet’en members.
FINAL-Going-Beyond-Supporting-Indigenous-Employment-in-Canadas-Energy-Industry-Dec2020-3.pdf (careersinenergy.ca) - Celebrities who are supporting protests on Wet’suwet’en land are themselves “Indigenous washing” and trying to silence Indigenous voices and use them as political pawns instead of respecting their sovereignty and right to partner in natural resource projects.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-using-indigenous-peoples-as-political-pawns-in-resource-development-is/ - Indigenous leaders fear that activism from environmental organizations and celebrities has become a form of “Eco-Colonialism” where many non-indigenous groups claim to represent Indigenous voices. This happened the entirety of the Coastal GasLink protests in winter 2020.
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/what-do-first-nations-really-think-about-trans-mountain
