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On World Water Day, Indigenous Water Protectors and activists highlight risks of spills from Kinder Morgan pipeline

by pmnationtalk on March 23, 2018338 Views

22 March 2018, Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver) — While the protest is still ongoing, four people have now been arrested defending water from Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project today.

In recognition of women’s important role in safeguarding water, Indigenous Women Water Protectors, Melina Laboucan-Massimo and Audrey Siegl, led activists as they set out this morning, on World Water Day.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo of the Lubicon Cree First Nation in Alberta, said: “What happens here today will impact our families back home in the tar sands. Our communities’ water, air and land is being compromised by tar sands operations, which Kinder Morgan’s new pipeline will only exacerbate. On World Water Day, we are here to protect the water from pipeline spills, the consequences of which we have experienced first-hand in Alberta and which threaten precious water all along the pipeline route.”

The group of activists who took action today also planted trees in front of a clearing where Kinder Morgan had been cutting them down — a next step in construction to make way for the company’s pipeline, which threatens more than 1,000 watercourses. The planting of the saplings was a symbolic act of protecting and nurturing nature, as well as recognizing the role of water in sustaining all life.

John Vissers, one of the people arrested today, said: “I live in the Fraser Valley and Trans Mountain had spills there some years ago. The first spill went into a creek. The second spill was so bad that a local elementary school was actually locked down. The company had the audacity to say the spill was what they called an ‘unintentional discharge.’ Three year-olds have unintentional discharges. Pipelines have spills. Kinder Morgan is not a good corporate citizen. We decided six years ago we’re going to do everything we can to stop this pipeline expansion, and that’s why we’re here.”

Maureen Currin, another person arrested today, said: “I’m originally from Toronto and my family originates in Ireland. They came here because they weren’t treated well by the government of the time. I’m carrying on our tradition of standing up when Indigenous Peoples are forced off their land. I teach Indigenous children and I see how they are affected every day. I was raised to be an environmentalist and activist by my mom, who recently passed away. I know she’d be proud of me for being here today and I want to pass that on to my children.”

World Water Day is a powerful reminder to protect the ecosystems Kinder Morgan puts at risk all along the proposed routes of its pipeline and associated oil tankers — from the Coldwater and Chilliwack aquifers, to the Fraser River and salmon-spawning streams, to the iconic Pacific coast down to California.

More than eighty-five people have now been arrested resisting Kinder Morgan’s pipeline project since the first day of action on Saturday, March 17th. Many more, including Indigenous leaders, have stood by in solidarity during ongoing protests.

One-in-ten British Columbians say they would be willing to take peaceful civil disobedience to resist the pipeline. Among those who have taken action are a former Trans Mountain employee, a Greenpeace founder, a retired teacher, grandparents, nurses, students, youth and many more.

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CONTACT:

media@protecttheinlet.ca
Jesse Firempong – 778-996-6549 (Lead Media Liaison)
Amina Moustaqim-Barrette – 514-229-5843
Virginia Cleaveland – 510-858-9902
Tegan Hansen – 250-354-3302

For more information on World Water Day, visit: http://worldwaterday.org/theme/

NT5

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