From the JUNOS to Burnaby Mountain: artists take part in anti-pipeline protests

BURNABY (NEWS 1130) – A pair of musicians nominated for JUNO awards have been on Burnaby Mountain this weekend, protesting against the Trans-Mountain Pipeline Expansion.

Grimes and Sarah Harmer were among the artists at the Kinder Morgan site on Saturday.

In an interview with Greenpeace Canada, Harmer says she understands why protesters have been using civil disobedience to protest the pipeline.

“When up against the wall, I mean I think that’s often the only choice you have left is to physically put your body there and get behind your values. I’m really proud of Elizabeth May and all the people that are speaking and acting from their conscience.”

An injunction granted to Kinder Morgan requires protesters to stay at least five metres from any of its facilities. So far more than 170 protesters have been arrested, with 57 people taken into custody on Burnaby Mountain just Saturday.

Harmer says the project “needs to be turned back and stopped,” and believes leaders need to make decisions now. “We need our government to either step away from the Paris Climate Agreement that they made two years ago, and allow this to happen, or keep the Paris Climate Agreement and not allow this to happen. They can’t have it both ways.”

The latest protest against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline brought out dozens of Indigenous youth and other demonstrators. Many protesting the twinning of the existing line say they have environmental concerns. Harmer is among them.

“The Kinder Morgan line with wanting to increase tanker traffic seven times over in the Burrard Inlet puts the whole coast at risk, and this coast is what everybody here relies upon. I mean we all rely on clean waters.”

The interview with the Canadian singer-songwriter was posted to the Greenpeace Canada Facebook page, which can also be seen below.

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