The Fredericton chapter protests the Energy East pipeline during Justin Trudeau’s campaign stop in their community, 2015.
The Council of Canadians Fredericton chapter is organizing a march against the Energy East pipeline that will take place on Saturday June 10.
Fredericton-based Council of Canadians campaigner Mark D’Arcy tells us, “There will be a march in Fredericton on June 10 starting at 1 pm. We will meet at the gravel parking lot beside 955 Union Street (which borders the Nashwaak River and is just below the underpass of the Walking Train Bridge). We will march across the bridge over the Nashwaak River. The Fredericton chapter is organizing this march.”
The Energy East pipeline would traverse Cross Creek and other Nashwaak River tributaries upstream of the city of more than 56,000 people. The Nashwaak River converges with the Saint John River at Fredericton, where the city’s source water protection area would be vulnerable to oil running downstream in the event of a spill.
The June 10 march is part of three consecutive weekends of action against the transport of tar sands bitumen.
June 3 – Paddle
People will gather in Amqui, Quebec and paddle down the Matapédia River. The paddle will take place between 8 am and 3 pm. This event is being organized by ‘Coule pas chez nous!’, a Quebec-based coalition of groups opposed to the Energy East project, under their campaign ‘Coule Pas Dans Nos Cours Eau’. D’Arcy and others will be camping for the weekend to build our networks with the Quebec and Indigenous communities fighting the Energy East pipeline and the Belledune oil-by-rail project (which would see 150,000 barrels of oil travel through Quebec and the Matapedia Valley to the Restigouche region on its way to Belledune on 220 rail cars each day).
June 17 – March
This march will begin in Red Head (Saint John) at the intersection of Red Head Road and Hewitt Road at 1 pm. The march will take about 30 minutes. It will take people to Anthony’s Cove Road where they can stay for a lobster and hot dog picnic on the shore of the Bay of Fundy. This gathering wraps at about 4 pm. This march is being organized by the Red Head Anthony’s Cove Preservation Association. On May 30, 2015, more than 550 people marched in Red Head against the Energy East pipeline in the ‘March to the End of the Line’ protest. Red Head is where a massive tank farm and deep water export terminal would be built to serve the Energy East project.
Stay tuned for more details on all three actions.