Demonstrators will be occupying a rail line in Burnaby Tuesday morning to protest the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion.
Protesters said in a news release they will block the rail line near the intersection of North Road and Highway 1, which runs directly parallel to the Trans Mountain expansion route and which “regularly ships oil by rail,” according to organizers.
The demonstration, which organizers said will be non-violent, will begin at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17. The action is in response to calls to action from the Wet’suwet’en and Secwepemc nations.
“This is a reminder to the colonial state and the Crown corporation that people won’t hesitate to resume the tactic of railway blockades if this pipeline isn’t cancelled immediately. The government isn’t doing what it takes to protect Canadians from the climate crisis, and it continues to take land from Indigenous peoples for dangerous fossil fuel development without consent,” said volunteer spokesperson Zain Haq in a written statement.
The demonstration is being organized by Extinction Rebellion Vancouver, and it comes as Trans Mountain begins construction in the Lower Mainland.
In a news release, organizers said the pipeline expansion runs directly against Canada’s net-zero emissions commitments, which the country is aiming to achieve by 2050. The news release also pointed to a September report of 100 Canadian economists and policy experts calling into question the economic viability of the project.
The price of oil hit new lows in the spring, even reaching briefly into the negative, and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, a 13-nation organization, slashed its oil demand forecasts. Meanwhile, British Petroleum forecasted global oil demand to peak in the early 2020s.
Tuesday’s demonstration isn’t the only protest in the area – in September, protesters began occupying trees in the path of the development to block preliminary work on the pipeline.
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