'It's affecting our people here'; Anti-pipeline protest held outside Trudeau town hall in Saskatoon

Chris Standing could have gone to see a cheap movie on Tuesday night, or trained for his advanced blue belt on Wednesday.

Instead, the 200,000-litre oil spill at Ocean Man First Nation made him decide to organize an anti-pipeline rally outside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall event at the University of Saskatchewan. 

“I didn’t want to — I still don’t really want to. But it’s one of those things where you feel responsible and it’s hard to walk away from it and turn a blind eye to it,” Standing said Wednesday night as about 30 to 40 protesters danced, sang and held up “Water is Life” signs. 

According to relatives who live near Ocean Man, the spill went through sacred ground on which sun dances were held 100 years ago, he said.

“It’s affecting our people here, for sure. It’s getting closer to home — when is it too late to go back on some of these things?”

He hopes the rally leads to a drive for cleaner energy and more consultation with First Nations, and to find new ways to create jobs that are less dependant on oil.

“People want jobs for sure, but there are different ways we can go about it. I believe in our university, our thinkers; we can find different ways to make jobs that aren’t harmful for our environment, for our water.”

Sheelah McLean, a U of S professor and Idle No More organizer, said Trudeau was elected in part due to Idle No More’s work raising concerns about the policies of the Stephen Harper government.

However, Trudeau has not addressed the group’s calls to action, including repealing Bill C-45 or Bill C-38 or instituting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, said McLean, who also attended the rally.

The Ocean Man and Husky oil spills are a warning of what’s to come if more pipelines are built, she said.

“The companies have proven that pipelines are not safe. They are not safer than trains; we should not be exporting oil and we should not be expanding the tarsands.”

Wednesday’s event happened just one day after crowds gathered at the White House for an anti-pipeline protest.

Premier Brad Wall has said Trump’s approval of Keystone XL “is a win for both our countries’ energy industries.”

Keith Stewart, head of Greenpeace Canada’s climate and energy campaign, has said there’s too much secrecy surrounding oil spills in Saskatchewan.

With Canadian Press files