A question is asked at the public forum in Victoria, Nov. 26. Photo by Georgia Collins.
British Columbia-based Council of Canadians regional organizer Leila Darwish continued a recent series of speaking engagements with events raising concerns about Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and fracking in Victoria (on November 26) and Vancouver (on November 28).
In Victoria, Darwish and filmmaker Damien Gillis spoke at two high schools and then did a public event that evening. Almost 450 students and teachers attended their presentations at the two schools. At the evening event, which drew 160 people, Darwish examined the growing resistance in British Columbia to the corporate LNG vision – from citizens in Howe Sound confronting the proposed Woodfibre LNG plant to grassroots First Nations opposition along proposed pipeline routes in northern B.C. The forum was co-sponsored by the Victoria Chapter of the Council of Canadians, the GVTA Social Justice Committee, the Vic High Parent Advisory Council, the Social Environmental Alliance, Sierra Club BC, RAVEN, and Fractured Land.
In Vancouver, Darwish presented at a third high school. This time it was at the 6th annual Windermere Secondary School Climate Change Conference (C3) that drew hundreds of students. The conference – titled FRACKTURED – was a district-wide event for all high school students. In her workshop – Fractured Futures, LNG Pipedreams, and Community Resistance – Darwish asked, ‘Why put communities and climate at risk, and threaten B.C.’s drinking water, rivers and ocean, wild salmon, air quality, farmlands and wilderness areas for a dangerous LNG pipe dream?’.
The events in Victoria and Vancouver, follow public forums featuring Darwish in Delta (October 22), Powell River (November 2) and Courtenay/ Comox (November 4). Upcoming events will likely include LNG and fracking presentations in Nanaimo (in January) and Campbell River (in February or March).
The Council of Canadians is opposed to the building of LNG terminals and pipelines in British Columbia. There are currently 18 LNG terminals proposed to be constructed on the B.C. coastline along with numerous pipelines that would supply them with fracked gas. If just five of these LNG terminals were to be built, 28 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions would be generated, an estimated 582 billion litres of water would be drawn from BC’s rivers, lakes and streams, and 39,000 new wells could be started by 2040, the majority of which would likely be fracked. We believe that a ban on the development of LNG terminals and pipelines is necessary in order to respect Indigenous rights, limit greenhouse gas emissions, defend the province’s freshwater sources, protect wild salmon, and protect communities and the coastline.
Further reading
Overview of public forums in Delta/ Ladner, Powell River and Courtenay/ Comox (November 4 blog)
