A good week fighting tar sands expansion

By Brant Ran

It was a good week in the fight against tar sands.

Last week, RBC CEO Gord Nixon went on record saying that he would “consider” an invitation from Lionel Lepine to visit Ft. Chipewyan (video soon on youtube). After the meeting, the Financial Times cited concerns about RBC’s financing of a Transcanada pipeline across Lubicon Territory while the Vancouver Sun described objections to “the 2010 Olympic sponsor’s status as top financier of the Alberta oilsands.”

Then Monday morning, we warned Congressional Leaders about Canada’s Environment Minister Jim Prentice (pics/video). In a story about the protest, Mitch Potter at the Toronto Star’s Washington Bureau quoted one Canadian official saying “we are getting killed on oilsands” and the Star editorialized that “political realities aren’t following the script” of Prentice’s visit.

After the letter delivery, Gitz Crazyboy, down from ACFN in Alberta, lead a march to shut down a coal fired power plant while doing an interview with CTV (still looking for video).

Meanwhile Eriel and Melina were on CBC National News, talking about the campaign that brought them to Washington to warn Congress and the Obama Administration about the tar sands.CBC image

Along the way, we were also able to meet lots of new friends excited to help push the campaign forward. I’m especially excited about working with Dogwood Initiative on oil tanker traffic, Council of Canadians on water quality and Amnesty International on rights for the Lubicon.

In DC, it was great to work closely with IEN and have so much support from The Canadian Powershift Delegation including SYC, CYCC and Forest Ethics. Big thanks to Lionel, Melina, Gitz, Eriel and everybody who supported us!