Yesterday the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation served Shell with intent to sue over unmet agreements from current tar sands projects. This was marked by a rally outside of Shell Canada corporate headquarters in downtown Calgary. There were also solidarity actions in UK (where Shell is based) and at the UN climate talks in Durban South Africa.
The Council of Canadians is part of an international coalition of Indigenous and environmental and social justice groups that endorsed the actions. This coalition echoes the call on Shell Oil Canada and Shell Oil International to halt any further tar sands extraction in the Athabasca region until proper environmental safeguards are put into place and in accordance with Article 32 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which affirms the right to free, prior and informed consent for Indigenous Peoples regarding development projects which affect their lands, territories and resources.
The announcement was reported on by Reuters and a number of independent media sources.
To read more about the solidarity action in Durban, see this media coop piece.
Indigenous People’s legal rights and the challenges being brought forward under law against tar sands operations are critical to challenging the ongoing unsustainable expansion in the tar sands and transition to a tar sands free future.
TAKE ACTION: You can take action to stand in solidarity with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation as they serve Shell Canada. See this Sierra Club, Prairie chapter action alert which encourages people to forward written comments by December 16 to the Joint Review Panel reviewing the proposed projects on the adequacy of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and the Application filed by Shell Canada Ltd.
