5 people-powered movements that took on Big Oil, and won
By Jennifer Deol, Digital Organizer with 350 Canada
We know 2020 is a critical year in the fight for our planet’s collective future. We are already seeing a surge of uprisings in Canada take hold in the first few weeks of this new decade. Right now, thousands of people across the country are buckling down for the long haul against destructive industrial projects that violate Indigenous rights and devastate the climate, including Coastal GasLink, the TransMountain pipeline, and the Teck Frontier Mine.
While the last decade grew increasingly dire as we pushed past planetary tipping points, it was also filled with societal tipping points fuelled by bold Indigenous-led people-powered movements that changed the course of history in Canada. Here are 5 times people took on Big Oil and their political accomplicies in the last decade in Canada, and won:
1.People power got Shell out of Sacred Headwaters, 2012. In 2004, Shell Canada, one of the largest corporations in the world, was granted a tenure to develop coal bed methane in the Sacred Headwaters region of north western, BC. The proposed project would have violated Indigenous lands, rights and fragmented important wildlife habitat and water cycles local communities depended on. The Tahltan First Nation sustained blockades to block access to their lands and sacred waters that gained widespread and international attention. As momentum picked up, small communities across Northwestern BC came together to organize protests that drew in hundreds of thousands of people opposed to the project. After nearly a decade of Indigenous-led opposition that gained international support, the BC government was forced to place a moratorium on the project. Shell Canada had no other option but to give up its coal bed methane tenures in the area in 2012, and the BC government imposed a permanent oil and gas development moratorium in the Sacred Headwaters soon after.
2. Taseko’s proposed $1 billion Prosperity mine at Teztan Biny (Fish Lake) rejected, 2014. The proposed mine, situated in Tsilhqot’in territory just west of Williams Lake in BC, was strongly opposed by the Tsilhqot’in Nation and their allies for decades. Taseko’s first proposal to construct a massive open-pit mine, that had the backing of the BC government, was rejected in 2010. But this didn’t stop the mining giant from pouring billions of dollars into backdoor deals to apply again. However, a historic ruling that awarded Tsilhqot’in people ownership say over a 1,750-square-km area in 2014, highlighted the political and moral risks of approving a project that would irreversibly damage Fish Lake — considered sacred in Tsilhqot’in culture — and violate Indigenous rights. This along with the sustained civil opposition from the Tsilhqot’in, UBCIC and environmental groups across several years created too high of a political cost for elected officials to pay. This led the federal government to reject the mine project again. Since this ruling, Taseko Mines has tried to resurrect the project, but has failed to move it forward.
3. Keystone XL rejected, 2015. TransCanada first submitted its application to build the pipeline back in 2008. Leading up to the start of the decade, Indigenous communities had been fighting dirty tar sands oil extraction in Alberta for a decade when the fight gained momentum south of the border. Organizers with 350.org, Indigenous land defenders, and local impacted communities, took their fight directly to the doorsteps of the White House. Farmers, ranchers, civil rights activists and community members flew in to take up two weeks of civil disobedience. Organizers continued an unprecedented wave of political pressure that gained widespread support. This public outcry eventually forced President Obama to apply a climate test to the proposed project before it could be approved. As oil prices fell, broad-based public pressure continued to mount. Ranchers and Indigenous peoples along the pipeline route continued to organize rallies and town halls, and set up camp near the White House to keep public and political attention on the project. The sustained pressure from the movement eventually led Obama to reject the Keystone XL, setting a historic precedent of applying a climate test to fossil fuel projects.
Unfortunately, the southern leg of Keystone was given the greenlight to be built in 2014, but people power and the Tar Sands Blockade in Texas have fought back every step of the way. And in 2017, President Trump put the project back on life support with the backing of the Canadian federal government, but construction has yet to move forward on the pipeline.
4. Enbridge Northern Gateway killed, 2016. Enbridge filed its application to build the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, that would stretch from Alberta’s dirty tar sands to BC’s coast, back in 2010. Despite Harper hastily greenlighting the project, the pipeline faced strong and coordinated resistance from Indigenous communities and allies every step of the way. Thousands coordinated and gathered peaceful protests across BC, and Coastal First Nations, environmental groups, and Unifor, came together to file a lawsuit against the project that highlighted the lack of meaningful consultation and consent with impacted communities. This sustained outside and inside pressure, with then-BC premier Christy Clark coming out against the project, finally led the federal Supreme Court to rule that Ottawa failed to meaningfully consult with several Coastal First Nations. The ruling against Ottawa and the sustained political pressure by the movement was the final nail in the coffin for the project. Justin Trudeau killed the project in 2016, and also announced to legislate a ban on oil tankers on BC’s north coast which came into effect last year.
5. Energy East killed, 2017. In 2013, TransCanada filed its application for the Energy East tar sands pipeline, the largest North American pipeline ever proposed. From the beginning, people out-organized TransCanada at every turn. While public opinion was divided on the pipeline initially, activists continued to seed the resistance in local communities along the pipeline route until the pillars of support for the project began to crumble. Targeted campaigns by organizations were also set up to erode trust with the National Energy Board (NEB) process, which had not considered the impacts on the climate. Eventually, campaigners won and the NEB was pressured to reevaluate the project against Canada’s current climate policies and commitments. Indigenous communities and the people-powered movement across the country sustained a political force that forced the newly elected Liberal government to introduce a climate test, causing TransCanada to drop the project and killing Energy East in 2017.
These wins from the last decade have unleashed a social earthquake that has transformed what is politically possible for this new decade. And the historic global climate strike, which drew in 7 million people globally and nearly one million across Canada, is proof people are hungry for bold and transformative Green New Deal level action to tackle the climate crisis and rising inequality.
With the Teck Frontier Mine decision coming down this month, and Indigenous-led blockades in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en stalling major railways and ports leading to government intervention, people-power will continue to build momentum and seize power from the fossil fuel industry.
Right now Justin Trudeau and his cabinet are making a decision on the Teck Frontier Mine. Tell them it’s time to say no to climate disasters and reject Teck Mine.
Support the Wet’suwet’en fight against Coastal GasLink and the RCMP invasion here.
