The north side of the Vancouver Art Gallery was recently given a major facelift to enhance its place as one of the major gathering places in the city.
So it shouldn't come as a surprise that opponents of the Kinder Morgan pipeline have chosen this location for a major demonstration on Saturday (September 9).
The self-styled West Coast Protectors plan to meet there at 1 p.m.
“On September 9 we will be marching in the streets of Vancouver to send a warning to Kinder Morgan and to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that this toxic, high risk Trans Mountain dirty oil pipeline project will never see the light of day and has no place on unceded territories of Indigenous Nations,” Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said in a statement. “Industry and the federal government must respect the Title and Rights of Indigenous Nations, as affirmed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
Another organizer, Thomas Davies, pointed out that "smoky skies and massive hurricanes remind us sharply about the cost of climate chaos."
The Trudeau government approved Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain Expansion Project last year.
It will triple diluted bitumen shipments from Alberta to the Lower Mainland, reaching 890,000 barrels per day.
The project will also lead to a nearly seven-fold increase in the number of oil tankers in Burrard Inlet, Georgia Strait, and Juan de Fuca Strait.
