Once again, local MP James Moore and his constituency office in Port Moody were targets of a petition, this time over last week’s oil spill near Vancouver.
On Friday, a group that included First Nations leaders and representatives from organizations like Leadnow and Council of Canadians, delivered a petition to Moore’s office on St. Johns Street calling on the federal government to reopen the Kitsilano Coast Guard Station, reverse cuts to marine communications centres in B.C., and ban increased tanker traffic on the coast.
Tens of thousands of French workers took to the streets of cities across the country on Thursday to denounce the "austerity" policies of the French government. The Eiffel Tower was forced to close due to the strike.
Various trade unions had called on workers to join the protest against austerity and in the name of "protecting social services, public transport, and employment".
Thousands of protesters marched in Paris between the Place d'Italie and the Invalides on Thursday afternoon and thousands more rallied in cities across France.
QUEBEC CITY–Standing at the head of the line, drum in hand, Melissa Mollen-Dupuis and several First Nation drummers took their first step forward. Behind them, an estimated 25,000 people followed.
“I say we need programs for people who are addicted to petrol and money,” said Mollen-Dupuis. “Just like we do for people who are addicted to alcohol and drugs.”
Mollen-Dupuis is a seasoned environmental activist.
The Innu from Mingan on Quebec’s North shore is a staple in environmental marches.
In today’s climate action march, she was walking for a new purpose.
Several hundred people marched through Fort Langley Saturday to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline that runs through Langley.
Organized by groups including the Pipe Up Network and the Kwantlen First Nation, the march headed from the Kwantlen reserve to the Fort Langley Community Hall.
The march paused in the center of the Jacob Haldi Bridge that connects MacMillan Island to the village of Fort Langley. Above the Fraser River, Kwantlen members drummed and sang before the march continued.
. . . The bill "isn't really about terrorism," but about preserving economic and power relations in Canada, Palmater said.
Citizens have worked too hard to create treaties, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international laws that protect basic human rights to toss it all away "because we wanted to protect some corporate economic interests," she added.
Her arguments were echoed by Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs, who said the bill would dangerously expand powers of Canada's security agencies without making people any safer.
Canada's spy agency helped senior federal officials figure out how to deal with protests expected last summer in response to resource and energy development issues — including a pivotal decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline.
Bill C-51 'Day of Action' protests denounce new policing powers
Anti-terrorism bill opens door to spying on opponents,Mulcair charges
Anti-terrorism bill's powers could ensnare protesters, MP fears
Kinder Morgan says its protocols dictate that it report "suspicious activities" like taking photos near its Burnaby Mountain facility, even though the surrounding area is Crown land on which they have no jurisdiction to prohibit photography.
SFU climate change scientist Tim Takaro says he felt "intimidated" when he got a call from Burnaby RCMP earlier this week asking him about photographs he took with Kinder Morgan infrastructure in the background. They also told him they knew he had been to protest rallies that had taken place there a few months earlier.
A scientist, or any knowledgeable person, will tell you climate change is a serious threat for Canada and the world. But the RCMP has a different take. A secret report by the national police force, obtained by Greenpeace, both minimizes the threat of global warming and conjures a spectre of threats posed by people who rightly call for sanity in dealing with problems caused by burning fossil fuels.
OTTAWA — An internal RCMP report’s portrayal of northern B.C. as one of two Canadian regions most vulnerable to violent, anti-pipeline extremists working with aboriginal radicals to sabotage “critical infrastructure” is “absolutely bizarre,” one of B.C.’s most outspoken First Nations leaders said Wednesday.
Stewart Phillip, head of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, has long espoused civil disobedience to defend First Nations rights and was recently arrested during an anti-pipeline protest on Burnaby Mountain.
