The Pipeline and the Pandemic - Unist'ot'en Solidarity Brigade

01/04/20
Author: 
First Nations Leaders
Hereditary Chief Dsta’Hyl makes regular patrols through Wet’suwet’en territory to tell pipeline workers to go home. They aren’t listening, he says. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood.
Coastal Gas Link's ongoing construction is putting entire communities at risk! 

Please sign and share this petition to shut down man camps throughout the province that are endangering entire northern communities with the spread of COVID-19
 

Read this critical article on the risk Coastal Gas Link's ongoing construction is bringing to northern communities

While people are warned to remain at home and take precautions due to COVID 19, the oil and gas industry is continuing work on Coastal Gas Link and other pipeline routes, and industry is pushing forward with mega-projects across Canada. 

Workers on these projects are traveling from all over the country to live in man camps with hundreds of people living in tight quarters, sharing meals and housing. They are unable to effectively quarantine, are using local services, and are coming in rotating shifts dramatically increasing the risk of viral spread posed to both local communities and workers on the projects. 

In Northern communities healthcare access is already limited and vulnerable to being overrun by COVID-19 patients. The influx of hundreds or thousands of out of town workers living in close quarters puts these communities at severe risk of having their health systems completely overwhelmed. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected at least 850,000 people and claimed tens of thousands of lives so far — and yet politicians and fossil fuel CEOs are continuing to put thousands of workers, and people in the northern and rural communities they are working in, at severe risk for oil and gas profits. 

We say no more. This is atrocious. Canada needs to respect Indigenous health. Tell Justin Trudeau, Adrian Dix and John Horgan to stop all construction on Coastal GasLink, Site C, and Trans Mountain now!
 

Use your voice now and rise up in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, communities in Fort St John impacted by Site C construction, and Tiny House Warriors along the Trans Mountain pipeline route, as well as all communities impacted by man camps on their territories. Sign the letter demanding that Canadian politicians and companies stop this immense risk to public health. 
 

Join us: We call on Justin Trudeau, Adrian Dix, and John Horgan today to stop this public health crisis from man camps and demand they stop the work putting communities at risk.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership has already filed a lawsuit raising their concerns about the impacts of man camps in their territory, and yet these camps are growing before the cases are even heard. CGL and the RCMP continue to enter Wet’suwet’en territories despite opposition from all five Wet’suwet’en clans. 

The Tiny House Warriors in Secwepmec territories are calling for an end to construction and man camps by TransMountain.

And the Union of BC Indian Chiefs sent an open letter demanding that “immediate action be taken to compel BC Hydro to halt all construction at Site C Dam due to the risk COVID-19 now poses to vulnerable workers and nearby Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in northeast B.C.”

Join these powerful land defenders and add to the pressure. Call for a halt to all construction in Wet’suwet’en territories, in Secwepmec territories, and at the Site C Dam immediately, in order to protect vulnerable communities and workers immediately.

 
ARTICLES TO SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR NETWORKS

The Pipeline and the Pandemic: "It's the biggest risk we've got right now"  -The Tyee

Former Chief Medical Officer Urges BC to shut down Industrial Work Camps During Corona Virus Pandemic    -The Narwal


UBCIC Open Letter to halt Coastal Gas Link construction

Onward!
-Unist'ot'en Solidarity Brigade