On our way there, we drove past many different villages. Each one looking extremely impoverished. I learned later that this was not always the case. There was a time in this region where fishing, farming and the local economy truly flourished. But once the refinery project was approved, among other projects in the region, they built a pipeline directly through nine different villages. Over a period of time, there was pipeline breakage which contaminated an underground aquifer, and spoiled the wells and water supply of the majority of the surrounding villages. As industry expanded, and land bought and sold, men were forced into cheap labour at the refineries, after lifetimes of sustainable farming and fishing – now dependent on one or two companies for employment. Women, children and elders went starving after losing access to fresh water, with no accountability for cleanup – just left to fend for themselves. I ask, what would be the case here in our region? Do you see any potential similarities?
Permalink
If you are curious at all about the skyrocketing temperature of our planet and what to do about it, please watch this.
Bill McKibben delivering Notes from the Climate Change Fight recorded at the Chan Centre, UBC.
http://youtu.be/XyVYXLvg2kE [note 00:36:09 mark]
McKibben says BC is a key area for the climate change fight TODAY because of _The ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY Project_ a new twin pipeline system running from near Edmonton, Alberta [ TAR SANDS ], to a new marine terminal in _Kitimat, British Columbia_ to EXPORT PETROLEUM and import condensate. Oilspills all along the way are inevitable as we have seen with BP oilspill in the Gulf. Meanwhile, the Tar Sands is poisoning everything around.
The DENE NATION (NWT) are fighting hard against the expansion of the Tar Sands, calling FOR A MORATORIUM ON OIL SANDS DEVELOPMENT, b/c oil sands has leeched at least 13 toxic pollutants – including lead and arsenic – into the Athabasca river, “which flows 3,000 miles downstream to the Arctic Ocean. http://ow.ly/7DJKz
350.org led a campaign to stop the The Keystone XL pipeline operation which is currently delayed until 2013 - a big but possibly temporary win. Even before pipeline was approved construction was already underway. http://act.350.org/sign/global-pledge/
Canada’s Human Rights record isn’t looking very good these days:
Aboriginal Children in State Care• 54 per cent of the children in care in B.C. are aboriginal.http://ow.ly/7DK1H (How many children total are in state care?)• 56% of the aboriginal population in Canada is under 25.
http://ow.ly/7DK3l (What is the total population?)G20 Summit police brutality and mass arrest
Check out how many oil tankers actually enter the Burrard Inlet TODAY: http://twitter.com/#!/burrardinletoil
Escalating police violence and militarization of finance & state indicate that there’s inertia or inability by our current defenders of rights (UN, law, state) to help the people on the ground being hurt. We might need to form our own Human Rights Watch teams.
