Mobilization for Climate Justice

Posts Tagged ‘Canada’

A report from a successful environmental justice rally and action in downtown London, Ontario, Canada, on Saturday, February 13th -

Some photos from our event are posted here and here.

The local protest was part of a wider day of action, which was called by the Indigenous Environmental Network, with others who supported action against Olympics sponsors, Olympics greenwashing, the Albertan tar sands, and native oppression.  Local activists here in London, Ontario know of other Canadian protests in Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, Kitchener-Waterloo, and Montreal. There even was an event in London, England, which was timed to coincide with the Canadian protests.

In each city, the focus was the same: we were raising awareness about and protesting against the social dislocation and environmental destruction associated with the Olympics and its leading sponsors — including RBC (the leading financier of tar sands projects) and PetroCanada/Suncor (which directly operates six tar sands projects).

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CALL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ACTIVISTS

JOIN VANCOUVER 2010 CONVERGENCE

A coalition of environmental activists led by GatewaySucks.org is calling on climate change activists to join the convergence at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

When the 2010 Winter Olympics start a couple of weeks from now in Vancouver, BC the athletes and spectators will be joined by organizations with some of the worst records on climate change.

General Motors is a national partner for the games, and one of the leading corporate opponents of effective action on climate change. Only two years ago, a vice-chairman of GM called global warming a “total crock of shit.” GM is supplying a large fleet of vehicles for the games, almost all of which are gas-guzzling SUVs.

Petro-Canada, another National Olympic Partner, is the retail arm of the largest extractor of Oil Sands bitumen. The Oil Sands are Canada’s biggest ghg emissions point source.

RBC (the Royal Bank of Canada) in addition to being a prominent Olympic sponsor is the largest commercial bank funder of the Oil Sands,. TransCanada pipelines, whose pipelines connect to the Oil Sands, is also an official supplier.

The government of British Columbia is the main funder and promoter of the games. They kicked off a massive plan to add over 1,000 km of new highway lanes (an increase of over 2,000,000 annual tonnes of CO2e emissions ) with the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion for the Olympics. These plans include the controversial Gateway Program. It continues to heavily subsidize the oil and gas industry which resulted in it being the only Canadian province to see ghg emissions from industrial sources increase in 2008.

The Federal government of Canada which consistently earned “Fossil Awards” at the most recent international climate talks also is a major funder for the Olympics.

These corporations and governments want to fool the world with their claim that these are the “Greenest Games Ever” despite the links to climate change deniers, highway expansion and the Oil Sands.

If you would like to endorse this call-out and the welcoming committee event please contact info@gatewaysucks.org.

MORE INFORMATION AND RESOURCES:
Convergence Info: http://olympicresistance.net/
Welcoming Committee: http://2010welcoming.wordpress.com/
Green Olympic Watch: http://2010greenwatch.org/
GatewaySucks.org: http://www.gatewaysucks.org/
2010 Climate Crime Scene: http://2010climatecrime.org

The Group of 8 Leaders and the Group of 20 Leaders are meeting in Ontario,
from the 25th to the 27th of June, 2010.

Following the collapse of the Copenhagen Climate Summit, they will be
discussing the global economy, development and climate change.

These gatherings are about trying to fix capitalism, a system that cannot
be fixed; about creating unsustainable market responses to ecological
catastrophe that reinforce systems of oppressions; about ensuring the
continued exploitation of people of color and the South and about
celebrating war as a means to create puppet allies to maintain imperialist
power. The so-called leaders at these gatherings do not represent us.

In opposition and with a will to transform, people across Turtle Island
are organizing community-based days of action in Toronto, Canada. The
days of action will be led by Toronto-based organizations of people of
color, indigenous peoples, women, the poor, the working class, queer and
trans people and disabled people.
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http://www.whatiscop15.net/

Rising Tide North America is pleased to announce www.WhatIsCop15.net – an instant archive project compiling some of the incredible work of the global climate movement at and in the lead up to the 2009 UN climate summit in Copenhagen (the 15th Conference of the Parties or COP15).

Much has been said about the failure and collapse of the climate of COP15 last weekend to reach a binding agreement, and you’ll find lots of analysis at www.WhatIsCop15.net.

But the real story from the climate summit — which at best was expected expand the carbon market and entrench corporate control of climate policy — is a happy one.

It’s the massive organizing success and coming of age of the climate justice movement. 100,000 in the streets, tens of thousands in attendance at the climate justice oriented Klimaforum, and countless actions against the root causes of climate change.

Moreover, the sham of polluter-dominated climate policy political sausage making – which expelled groups like Friends of the Earth and Via Campesina from its proceedings – was revealed to millions of onlookers, as was Obama’s complicity in the whole affair.

Depressing as the state of things is, the understanding that there will be no just climate solutions without massive social change has crystallized for score of people in the past weeks: the movement of people demanding a radical shift in the existing order is growing by leaps and bounds, and we must celebrate this awakening!

www.WhatIsCop15.net compiles images, reports, videos, reflections and education resources from COP 15, to thank those who organized for climate justice in Copenhagen and to inspire those of us who weren’t there to equally monumental actions.

Whether you’ve been struggling to keep up with the news or were there in Copenhagen, we invite you to learn, enjoy, and spread the word about the online archive! We’d love it if you contributed content as well!

https://climatejusticeinitiative.wordpress.com

So much to share, but I will try to keep it brief!

This morning we started the day in front of the Canadian Embassy demonstrating against the proliferation of tar sands operations. This action was led by the Indigenous Environmental Network. In brief, “Tar Sands” refer to “bitumen”/petroleum heavy sands which are mined to extract oil. These tar sands in Canada are on lands where the indigenous people have not given permission for extraction and furthermore, the process of extraction and transport is one that is hazardous to the environment as well as using copious amounts of water, a precious and diminishing resource. Sharon Lungo of the Ruckus Society and part of the Indigenous Environmental Network delegation, explains more.

Courtesy of Alan Lissner at www.alanlissner.net

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Press conference: 1pm CET, Frederiksholms Kanal 4, Copenhagen
Contact: Margaret Matembe, margaret.matembe@enviro-canada.ca, +45-23960186
Coverage: Click here, or click throughout press release for specific links
Videos:
Canadian announcement (hi-res download)
Ugandan response (hi-res download)
Canadian retraction (hi-res download)
Climate debt agents take responsibility (hi-res download)
More dream announcements coming soon! Come make your own or stay tuned at good-cop15.org.

Copenhagen Spoof Shames Canada; Climate Debt No Joke
African, Danish and Canadian youth join the Yes Men to demand climate justice and skewer Canadian climate policy

COPENHAGEN, Denmark – “Canada is ‘red-faced’!” (Globe and Mail) “Copenhagen spoof shames Canada!” (Guardian)

“Hoax slices through Canadian spin on warming!” (The Toronto Star) “A childish prank!” (Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada)

What at first looked like the flip-flop of the century has been revealed as a sophisticated ruse by a coalition of African, North American, and European activists. The purpose: to highlight the most powerful nations’ obstruction of meaningful progress in Copenhagen, to push for just climate debt reparations, and to call out Canada in particular for its terrible climate policy.

The elaborate intercontinental operation was spearheaded by a group of concerned Canadian citizens, the “Climate Debt Agents” fromActionAid, and The Yes Men. It involved the creation of a best-case scenario in which Canadian government representatives unleashed a bold new initiative to curb emissions and spearhead a “Climate Debt Mechanism” for the developing world.

The ruse started at 2:00 PM Monday, when journalists around the world were surprised to receive a press release from “Environment Canada” (enviro-canada.com, a copy of ec.gc.ca) that claimed Canada wasreversing its position on climate change.

In the release, Canada’s Environment Minister, Jim Prentice, waxed lyrical. “Canada is taking the long view on the world economy,” said Prentice. “Nobody benefits from a world in peril. Contributing to the development of other nations and taking full responsibilities for our emissions is simple Canadian good sense.” Read the rest of this entry »

Six youth were arrested and charged with trespassing after a peaceful sit-in inside the House of Commons Environment Committee at 11:30am.

“Pleas from Canadian youth for politicians to take action to protect their future and make climate justice a priority were ignored by parliamentarians,” said Cameron Gray.

In the meeting, the Conservatives made clear that they would only support the return of bill of C-311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, to the House of Commons in order to then vote it down.

And some media coverage:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/Politics/Power_&_Politics/ID=1353729650 (10th minute mark)
http://www.mediacoop.ca/blog/tim-mcsorley/2230

This post was submitted by Cameron Fenton.

On Monday Montrealers gathered at the office of Quebec Premier Jean Charest to protest plans to bring Tar Sands oil through Montreal, while demanding the Harper government stop sabotaging international climate negotiations and commit to deep and binding cuts to carbon emissions.

“While Premier Jean Charest is making headlines for his supposed commitment to curb carbon emissions, his government is steadily green-lighting a pipeline from one of the world’s most environmentally destructive projects, the Tar Sands, right through Montreal. As long as Tar Sands extraction continues on a massive scale, Canada will not meet any major emissions reduction targets,” says Cameron Fenton, a member of Climate Justice Montreal.

If completed, the Enbridge “Trailbreaker” pipeline project will bring 200,000 barrels of Tar Sands oil through Montreal, 40,000 of which will be refined in Montreal. Extracting oil from the Alberta Tar Sands is an energy-intensive process that generates three to five times more global warming pollution than conventional oil production, and is destroying the lives and livelihoods of downstream Indigenous communities like Fort Chipewyan. Read the rest of this entry »

This post was submitted by Cameron Fenton.

A climate justice activist leafletting in the RBC branch

This afternoon, the Mobilization for Climate Justice – London‘s ongoing campaign against RBC’s leading role in Tar Sands financing was taken directly into a local RBC branch for the first time. In solidarity with climate justice activists across North America, and in recognition of the 10th anniversary of of the protests against the WTO in Seattle, the London, Ontario climate justice activists distributed leaflets and information to RBC customers and tellers in the downtown RBC branch. We also posted flyers on ATMs to explain that money from RBC ATMs is used to finance the most environmentally destructive energy project in the world, the Alberta Tar Sands megaproject Read the rest of this entry »

This post was submitted by M4CJ.

A recent poll reports that 75% of Canadians are embarrassed by our government’s stance on climate change. Therefore, today, one week before the start of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen Canadian, citizens lined up in front of Parliament with their pants down and the message that they are more ashamed of Canada’s climate action plan.

“Minister Prentice recently stated that the government climate regulations are years away, leaving us way behind the rest of the world in the creation of a green economy,” says Natasha Peters, a member of the Canadian Youth Delegation to Copenhagen’s Home Team. “A private members bill passed Tuesday calling for Canada to advocate for targets of 25% under 1990 levels by 2020 for all industrialized nations and supporting developing countries in their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change. It’s time for the government needs to listen to parliamentary will and lead Canada to be part of a progressive deal in Copenhagen.”

This action is part of the “It’s Time to Listen Campaign” and is in solidarity with actions known as “Climate Crew Mondays” that are taking place all across the country to call for action on climate change.

DSC01389.JPG (2 MB)

DSC01389.JPG (2 MB)

This post was submitted by Natasha Peters.

November 30, 2009 (Whitby, Ontario) — The third of a series of peaceful sit-ins staged by a coalition of concerned individuals who are targeting elected officials, tar sands financiers, and the coal and tar sands industries began at Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s office today, located at: 701 Rossland Road East- Unit 204, Whitby. Seven people entered the office just after 9:30 refusing to leave, demanding that the federal government act to combat the climate crisis and stem the millions of deaths and displacements that will result from more inaction.

“While our government delays millions of people will die or become displaced due to the climate crisis. If they fail to reach an agreement the Canadian government is saying it does not care about the lives of those currently and most affected by climate change,” said Greenpeace Climate and Energy Coordinator, Dave Martin from inside the office, “Minister Flaherty must put pressure on the Government to act and push for a just, ambitious, and binding deal in Copenhagen with science based targets, that is led by the voices of those who are most directly impacted by the climate crisis.”
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Sign the Petition Here

November 22, 2009 (Calgary, Alberta) —

The first of a series of citizen-organized peaceful sit-ins targeting elected officials, tar sands financiers, and the coal and tar sands industries began today at Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice’s Calgary constituency office. Six people – five of whom are constituents of Minister Prentice – entered the office just after 10:00 AM refusing to leave, demanding that the Harper government and all parties act to combat the climate crisis and stop the millions of deaths and displacements that will result from more inaction on global warming pollution.
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