Hundreds gather in Vancouver to protest Trans Mountain pipeline
Posted May 29, 2018 6:29 pm.
Last Updated May 30, 2018 7:32 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The Prime Minister was the focus of a couple hundred anti-pipeline protesters who gathered outside Science World in Vancouver this evening.
Many of the demonstrators are outraged, calling the decision to use tax payer money to save the project ridiculous, adding it should be used towards funding more pressing issues.
Calling Justin Trudeau a liar, Khelsilem with Squamish Nation council told the crowd his people don’t want this pipeline.
“Justin Trudeau promised,” he says. “He promised a new relationship with my people. He promised that this project could not go through unless it was done through a vigorous review, which he broke.”
At one point the crowd chanted “Vote him out” at Khelsilem’s direction, referring to Trudeau.
Some in attendance, like Betty Hall, are pushing for a transition from oil and gas products to more renewable options.
Bob Chamberlin with Union of BC Indian Chiefs joked that Kinder Morgan is now the Prime Minister of Canada.
“This company gave this county an ultimatum and our country bent down on its knees,” he said as the crowd cheered on “So now the rights of Canadian citizens and Indigenous people across this country are now being driven by a corporation out of Texas.”
Speakers at the protest say today’s announcement won’t deter them from continuing to fight the project, promising to resist it even harder.
Tzeporah Berman with Stand Earth asked people to make a pledge and stand with Indigenous First Nations on the front lines and continue to rally against the project at Kinder Morgan sites, even if it means risking jail time.
“There is little that motivates as much as betrayal,” she told the crowd, saying Alberta’s Notley government as well as the Trudeau government promised a transition to clean energy.
“They betrayed us. I actually believed that they were serious when they talked about a just transition off fossil fuels. They criticized the Harper government’s pipeline processes, they promised us science-based decision making, democratic processes–but then was happened? They made a backroom deal together before the ministerial panel was even complete.”
The crowd booed in agreement with her words.
