Photo by Patricia Cocksedge
The Council of Canadians Powell River chapter has collected water at Willingdon Beach, located on the eastern shores of the Salish Sea, to send to Justin Trudeau to remind him of what tar sands pipelines put at risk.
Powell River, which is situated on the Georgia Strait between Texada Island and Coast Sailish territory (mainland British Columbia), would be south of the marine terminal for the proposed 525,000 barrels per day Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline and north of the terminal for the proposed expansion of the Kinder Morgan TransMountain pipeline to 890,000 barrels per day.
The Powell River Daily News reports, “Powell River youngster Taylor Campbell symbolically draws water at Willingdon Beach this week on behalf of the Council of Canadians.” Powell River chapter activist Patricia Cocksedge says, “Taylor and our community are a part of the plea to PM Trudeau to work towards a 100 per cent clean economy by 2050.”
The jar of water collected by the chapter will be part of an upcoming ‘climate welcome’ action at 24 Sussex Drive, the Prime Minister’s official residence in Ottawa.
On Saturday November 7, activists will attempt to present this water – along with other bottles of water collected from waterways threatened by fossil fuel projects across the country – to Prime Minister Trudeau. Organizers highlight that, “We’ll shine a spotlight on grassroots movements across Canada that have been fighting to defend their communities and our climate from reckless pipeline expansion. The gifts on this day will provide a powerful image of what’s at risk if these pipelines are built. We’re going to do this by providing water samples from the rivers, lakes and coastlines that tar sands pipelines would put at risk, and from water bodies that have already been poisoned as a result of the tar sands.”
To date, seven chapters have collected water for the Nov. 7 day of action.
For more on the Climate Welcome, please see their webpage.
Further reading
Northwest Territories chapter draws water from Great Slave Lake for Trudeau (Nov. 2, 2015 blog)
Sudbury chapter collects water from Tilton Lake for PM Trudeau (Nov. 1, 2015 blog)
Fredericton chapter collects water from St. John River to oppose Energy East pipeline (Oct. 30, 2015 blog)
Saint John chapter collects Bay of Fundy water for plea to Trudeau government (Oct. 29, 2015 blog)
London chapter collects Thames River water for Trudeau’s ‘climate welcome’ (Oct. 28, 2015 blog)
Prince Albert chapter mails water to Trudeau as a climate welcome (Oct. 21, 2015 blog)
