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| That's Jean McLaren on the left, holding our banner. |
Yesterday I joined a group of grey-haired ladies and trekked over the Salish Sea to help protest Kinder Morgan's drilling in a conservation area on Burnaby Mountain. They want to run a pipeline through the mountain that will contain dirty oil from the Alberta Tar Sands. No, I'm not writing from prison, as my mother asked when I called her this morning. One of our group - Jean McLaren, an 87-year-old grandmother and veteran activist - did cross the police line and was detained for an hour and then escorted down the mountain with a burly officer on either side of her.
It was not an angry protest, but a passionate and determined one. There were about 200 people there, lots of singing, and a good cross-section of the community - a broad range of ages, gender and ethnicities. I was struck by the good will of the crowd, many thank you's being said, lots of generousity of time and dollars being donated to the people who are camping at the top of the mountain.
It felt like a bizarre ritual being enacted. Twenty RCMP officers in body armour and full gear defending the rights of a huge American corporation against a peaceful group of Canadians in toques. (Fibre note: I did see lots of hand knit hats and scarves.)
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| Gathering at the bottom of the hill. |
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| Jean in the middle, being introduced and acknowledged for her leadership in the Clayoquat Sound protests that helped change the way forestry is done in B.C. |
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| Jean and others after they crossed the line. |
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| The muscle, defending an American corporation, funded by Canadian taxpayers. |
Glad you aren't in jail, Heather! But thanks for trying to affect some change for the good. It's all topsy-wonky out there, isn't it? Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThank you for standing strong Heather! there is a lot of very shoddy and underhanded deals for coal and CSG fracking going on down here in Australia between the mining companies and the government without asking the people what we want, we all have to make a stand all round the world for the sake of our beautiful planet.
ReplyDeleteGovernment and big business are basically hand in hand everywhere aren't they? Sometimes I simply wish the oil would run out suddenly and completely. I know their would be resource wars but at least there would be nothing to power the wanton destruction of every bit of precious untouched land remaining for the sake of profit.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking a stand, being there.
I am convinced that there is a corporate/government playbook out there full of strategies designed to make the rich richer and leave the rest of us behind to live with the polluted consequences. It seems like the same methods are being used all over the world to push through environmentally destructive projects.
ReplyDelete1. Gut the country's environmental protection legislation.
2. Government makes secret deals with overseas clients to sell resources without consulting citizens.
3. Government uses courts and police to eliminate public protests against environmentally destructive projects.
4. Corporations make huge profits and leave behind a huge stinking mess and move on to the next location and repeat.
Thanks Heather for joining in the fight to stop the insanity of the pipeline. Destroying forests in a "protected" area isn't even the worst of it. If that pipeline is built 400 oil tankers a year will navigate the busy waters into Vancouver. The chance of a large oil spill isn't almost guaranteed
Insanity! Insanity! Insanity! Insanity! Jean-Pierre
I am convinced that there is a corporate/government playbook out there full of strategies designed to make the rich richer and leave the rest of us behind to live with the polluted consequences. It seems like the same methods are being used all over the world to push through environmentally destructive projects.
ReplyDelete1. Gut the country's environmental protection legislation.
2. Government makes secret deals with overseas clients to sell resources without consulting citizens.
3. Government uses courts and police to eliminate public protests against environmentally destructive projects.
4. Corporations make huge profits and leave behind a huge stinking mess and move on to the next location and repeat.
Thanks Heather for joining in the fight to stop the insanity of the pipeline. Destroying forests in a "protected" area isn't even the worst of it. If that pipeline is built 400 oil tankers a year will navigate the busy waters into Vancouver. The chance of a large oil spill isn't almost guaranteed
Insanity! Insanity! Insanity! Insanity! Jean-Pierre