Photo by Jacqueline McArdle Brown.
The Council of Canadians Kent County chapter, Kent County Environment Watch and allies gathered today to express their solidarity with the resistance by water protectors against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The outreach for the gathering stated, “Global Call to Action for the Water Protectors at Standing Rock. We know how important international solidarity was for keeping up our morale here in 2013 [during the struggle against Texas-based SWN Resources conducting seismic testing in advance of fracking]. It’s our turn to stand up for others. Bring your own homemade signs, flags, Staffs, banners, Drums, and we will walk to the highway? Weather report says ‘light rain’ so dress accordingly. We build the road to bringing back the future for our grandchildren by walking it in unity.”
The Dakota Access Pipeline is being built by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. The pipeline could carry up to 570,000 barrels per day of fracked oil from North Dakota to Illinois. It would cross 200 waterways, including the Missouri River, which is upstream of Lake Oahe, the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s main source of drinking water, and the Mississippi River.
Enbridge has a $1.5 billion share in the pipeline, while TD Securities, Scotiabank and RBC have provided project-level loans to the companies involved in it.
Mint Press reports, “About 3,000 people are assembled in the region, divided among five encampments, including three which are largely situated on reservation territory. The gathering of Native Americans representing almost 375 tribal nations and other non-Native American groups is unprecedented in modern history.”
To date, 269 people have been arrested since the blockade against pipeline construction was established in mid-August.
The Council of Canadians first expressed its solidarity on August 19 and since then the Regina, Chilliwack and Kent County chapters, along with staff in Vancouver and Ottawa, have participated in solidarity rallies. Yesterday, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow tweeted her solidarity with the Kahnawake Peacekeepers and their action in support of the water protectors.
#RezpectOurWater #NoDAPL #DakotaAccessPipeline