Photo by Patricia Bourque
The Council of Canadians Prince Edward Island chapter was at a Standing Rock solidarity rally in Charlottetown on November 8.
CBC reports, “About 60 protesters carrying signs and candles including local Indigenous, union and political leaders marched from the 2016 sign on the waterfront to the front of the historic Coles Building, where there was a drum circle and several people made speeches and said prayers.”
Kathleen Romans, one of the organizers of the march, says, “It was a beautiful event. Water is sacred, without it we die. It is a worldwide issue and anything that threatens it is of concern to us all.”
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.”
The Council of Canadians first expressed its solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux on August 19 and since then the Regina, Chilliwack, Kent County, Montreal, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and PEI chapters, along with staff in Vancouver and Ottawa, have participated in solidarity actions. On October 30, we sent 1000 pairs of earplugs to the water protectors at Standing Rock given they have been subjected to police use of sound cannons that cause great pain and permanent hearing loss.
#RezpectOurWater #NoDAPL #DakotaAccessPipeline
