Auckland, New Zealand - One of the biggest and most controversial trade deals in history was signed on Thursday by ministers from the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas, as hundreds of protesters hit the streets to denounce it.
Security was stepped up across Auckland for representatives who travelled here to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) - a deal involving 12 economies worth about $28 trillion.
The Liberal plan to instill confidence in environmental assessments for pipeline megaprojects was panned Thursday by several First Nations groups as well as the mayor of Burnaby, B.C., who accused the federal government of being captured by the oil industry.
A handful of anti-pipeline activists with lock cutters and the will to get arrested have become Canadian oil producers’ newest hurdle to delivering crude to markets.
On Saturday, over 200 protestors gathered outside of the Kinder Morgan National Energy Board (NEB) hearings in Burnaby, B.C.
The environmental review hearings for the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline began on January 19, but members of the general public have not been allowed to attend.
"They call this a public hearing, but that's a misnomer," said Burnaby City Councillor Sav Dhaliwal. "There's no public in there. There isn't any. Public hearing without the public…concerned citizens are not allowed to go in there."
As a tense court case resumed Friday morning, the Trudeau government extended an olive branch to a First Nation that accused the federal government of failing to consult them on Kinder Morgan's controversial Trans Mountain pipeline.
The Tsleil-Waututh First Nation also argued in court that the National Energy Board (NEB) erred when it failed to adequately assess the impact of increased tanker traffic, which the nation argues will inevitably lead to a devastating oil spill.
The same imperialism that has caused so much damage to the Global South today continues expanding and threatening the whole planet. Consequently, the struggle for climate justice has converted into a struggle for the liberation of all workers, peasants, indigenous and ecosystems. The struggle against Empire is a struggle to save life on Earth.
For the past week, as the final round of NEB hearings for the Kinder Morgan pipeline were about to start, hundreds of people took action to enforce the People’s Injunction.
This government campaigned against broken pipeline reviews, yet they are letting the Kinder Morgan and Energy East reviews move forward -- without including impacts on climate change, without listening to communities, and without respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
A months-long dispute is heating up between BC Hydro and a small group of First Nations and landowners who are protesting the construction of the $9-billion Site C dam.
The power utility has filed a notice of civil claim in B.C. Supreme Court, seeking an injunction that will prevent protesters from stopping work in and around an area on the south bank of the Peace River near Fort St. John, B.C.
![The pact has been described as possibly 'the worst trade agreement in decades' [Caitlin McGee/Al Jazeera]](https://ecosocialistsvancouver.org/sites/default/files/styles/medium/public/article-image/tpp_nz.jpg?itok=E8uIBSJW)
