I was one of 117 people arrested on Parliament Hill Sept. 26. Over 400 gathered to peacefully protest the Keystone XL pipeline and more broadly, our national energy policy. Our current policies focus on short-term gains and fail to recognize long-term energy security, economic prosperity, indigenous sovereignty and healthy and sustainable living practices.
Prior to the protest, we were aware and prepared for possible arrests. Our civil disobedience was meant to jolt our members of Parliament (MPs) awake to these grave environmental crises and injustices. However, the RCMP characterized us as “obstructer[s] of justice” and two MPs characterized us as “extremists” and “lame [protesters].” Our actions, seemingly, have not made enough of an impression for some MPs, who hold considerable legislative powers.
What will it take for there to be a genuine and comprehensive debate about the future of our nation’s energy in Parliament and in the public at large? Why is there such a rush to dig up and transport a substance that has caused massive environmental damage, to a degree that has never been witnessed before? And why is there a lack of regulations on all fronts: public health, environmental conservation, future tar sands development and our current and future economic sustainability?
Most unfortunate of all, the sacrifice of life has been ignored by MPs. The least represented peoples in Canada, indigenous First Nations, have paid this price in various ways. Their water has been polluted exponentially since the arrival of big oil companies and their extraction projects in Alberta, affecting the environment and food sources, such as agriculture, livestock and local animals. These communities have been devastated with high rates of rare cancers and the untimely losses of their loved ones.
On the legislative front, according to the Indigenous Environmental Network, over 75 First Nations communities in British Columbia have passed laws stating that no pipelines or tar sands development may pass through their unceded territories. Along with the legislation comes the vehement rejection of billions of dollars that would have come from the big oil companies upon approval of the Northern Gateway pipeline.
These communities are some of the most in need of such wealth. Therefore, how can the great collective action and financial sacrifice made by these communities escape the media, Parliament and reflections for the development of energy policy? What is needed for these affected individuals and communities to receive respect and attention? How is one to legitimately and substantially affect energy policies?
Must one forfeit or sacrifice more of their civil rights, more of their health, more of their family members? If the government would like to weed out extremists, as they called us at the protest, they should deconstruct and assess their own extreme policies.
Currently, policies have allowed and encouraged unregulated cash grabs by numerous oil companies that have little to no consultation processes for locals regarding their projects.
The first Keystone pipeline, already in existence for 14 months, has had 12 spills. The Huffington Post provides a great visual map of the spills and their quantities. If one is to consider the construction of Keystone XL, would there be spills every month for the next 50 plus years, totalling 1,200 odd spills for just those two pipelines?
The pipeline is also planned to cross an aquifer in the U.S. that supplies water for two million people and is used for 30 per cent of the nation’s irrigation, also visually mapped by the Huffington Post. This precedent-setting initiative will justify future strenuous uses of fresh water for processing in other nations with tar sands, when fresh water itself is becoming depleted globally.
These projects have already caused the degradation of life and health to many past and even more to come. This is taking Canada in an opposite direction than most of the world with climate change, as most of the world has taken drastic steps to reduce carbon emissions as well as to create sustainable and endless future job growth in green technology.
This policy is the definition of extreme. Protesters and concerned persons are simply reminding the government of its responsibilities to its people and to Canada’s future.
