Over 170 people gathered outside the Royal Bank of Canada’s Annual General Meeting on March 3rd to protest the bank’s leading role in funding the Alberta tar sands.  People concerned with the impact of tar sands projects on First Nations, water quality and the climate came from all over the country to tell RBC to “stop bankrolling the tar sands.”

Shut Down the Tar Sands

Inside the shareholder meeting, First Nations Chiefs and community representatives from four different Nations demanded RBC phase out of its Tar Sands financing and to recognize the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities.

Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council of BC calls on RBC to recognize the right to free prior and informed consent.

Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation, Vice Chief Terry Teegee or the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation, and Gitz Crazyboy of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation addressed RBC CEO Gordon Nixon directly about the way tar sands extraction projects have jeopardized their health and their rights.

Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation says a prayer to start off the rally.

“RBC’s significant financial relationship with companies pursuing tar sands development activities within our traditional territory and without consent warrants close attention,” said Chief Al Lameman of Beaver Lake First Nation, “RBC should update their policies to include a recognition of Free, Prior and Informed Consent for Indigenous communities; this globally recognized concept was adopted by TD Bank Financial Group in 2007 and is endorsed by indigenous communities across the political spectrum.”

After the rally outside the RBC AGM, Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet'suwe'ten First Nation leads the protesters in a march to RBC's headquarters.

“I pleaded with the board of directors,” said Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation about his experience inside the RBC shareholder meeting, “I pleaded with the president, with the CEO and the shareholders to seriously consider looking at exactly what the RBC is doing. And it’s an important message; pay attention to what’s happening with the investments and the lending circles that are created from the RBC - it’s destroying our planet! It’s destroying our planet’s ability to sustain us as human beings. And it will continue to do that. I fear that, if we continue allowing banks like RBC to continue what they’re doing, climate change is going to reach its tipping-point, if it hasn’t already.”

RBC Creates Profit from Climate Chaos

“We completely oppose the entire scope of the whole dig-up project,” said Hereditary Chief Warner Naziel of the Wet’suwe’ten First Nation, “we’re not just opposed to the tar sands, we’re opposed to the proposed tanker traffic on the coast, we’re opposed to pipelines, and we’re opposed to the proposed CN transportation of dirty oil from the tar sands to the coast of BC.”

Indigenous Rights Now!

“People in my community are getting sick, people are dying,” said Gitz Crazyboy from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, “we can’t drink the water, we used to about 10-15 years ago right out of the Athabasca River, no body wants to do that anymore … too many people are dying.”

Gitz Crazyboy from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation speaks to the crowd

“People in my community are getting pissed off,” continued Gitz Crazyboy, “we’re getting tired, we’re getting angry, we’re losing faith in the world around us. All of you people here have a responsibility as Canadian citizens, as human beings even, to try to help us out, for our voice to be heard, we haven’t been heard in the last 400 years!”

Free Prior and Informed Consent

According to Bloomberg, since 2007, RBC has backed $16.9 billion in loans to companies operating in the tar sands and has earned more than $132 million in underwriting fees. As a result, RBC has enabled the production of the world’s dirtiest oil.

RBC AGM Protest March

Oil extraction from the tar sands generates three times the CO2 emissions as conventionally extracted oil, and will soon make Canada the biggest contributer to global warming.

Indigenous Rights Now!!

Mining oil from tar sands requires churning up huge tracts of ancient boreal forest and polluting clean water with so much poisonous chemicals that the resulting waste ponds can be seen from outer space.

Vice Chief Terry Teegee of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council speaking to the crowd.

The health impacts to Alberta’s First Nation communities are severe, with cancer rates up in some communities as much as 400 times its usual frequency. In addition, communities living near oil refineries face increased air and water pollution from tar sands oil, which contains 11 times more sulfur and nickel and five times more lead than conventional oil.

Dirty Oil

For more information on RBC and the tar sands, visit: Rainforest Action Network Toronto

Video of the protest coming soon…

I just finished designing a couple posters for the Rainforest Action Network, advertising their upcoming rally at the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) shareholders meeting.  The rally will be at 2pm on March 3rd at the Metro Convention Center in Toronto.
The text on the poster reads:
On March 3rd, the Royal Bank of Canada will hold [...]

In the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, the Marlin Mine is located along the border between the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. The Marlin Mine, which has both open-pit and underground operations, is fully owned by Vancouver-based Goldcorp Inc., one of the worlds biggest gold companies. The mine [...]

The sights and sounds from the streets of Copenhagen during the COP15 Climate Conference. As broad frustration grew with the direction of the COP15 negotiations, international networks of people’s movements, civil society groups, indigenous peoples organizations and grassroots activists united to expose the COP process as undemocratic, unjust, and inadequate to deal with the scale [...]

Within the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala, the Marlin Mine is located along the border between the municipalities of San Miguel Ixtahuacán and Sipakapa. These communities are largely composed of Indigenous Mayans who speak their traditional languages in addition to Spanish. 85% of the mine is located in San Miguel Ixtahacán, where [...]

As the COP 15 climate talks entered their final days and world leaders converged on Copenhagen, thousands demonstrated in the streets of Copenhagen as part of the “Reclaim Power” movement.  As broad frustration grew with the content and direction of the climate negotiations, two international networks of people’s movements, civil society groups, Indigenous Peoples Organizations [...]

From the Reclaim Power Protest in Copenhagen, Denmark, outside the COP15 Climate Conference on Wednesday 16 December.  (more to come)

Tar Sands protest outside Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the COP15 Climate Conference.
The protest was led by the Indigenous Environmental Network.
Speakers: Mother & daughter Susan and Eriel Deranger from the Athabasca Chipewan First Nation, just downriver from the Tar Sands oil projects in Alberta, Canada.

Nearly a hundred people gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, to demand climate justice for indigenous communities that are being impacted by the tar sands.
Besides these photos, I also video recorded the speeches made by the speakers at the protest.  Some of the speakers included Francois Paulette of Fort Smith First Nation, Naomi Kline [...]

Tens of thousands of people marched through the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark, towards the COP15 United Nations Climate Conference to demand that the leaders sign a fair, ambitious, and binding agreement.
Organizers estimated that there may have been as many as 100,000 people taking part in the march; police estimates put the figure at 40,000. So [...]

The Marlin Mine is a large scale gold mine located in the Department of San Marcos, in the western highlands of Guatemala. Operated by Montana Exploradora, a subsidiary of the Canadian corporation Goldcorp Inc.
But Montana doesn’t seem very popular in the area, as suggested by the elaborate permanent mural paintings displayed along the walls outside [...]

I’m almost finished my work here in Guatemala, now I have to start editing and captioning and putting together the newest photo essay for Someone Else’s Treasure.  The Marlin Gold Mine in San Marcos, Guatemala, is owned by Canadian mining company Goldcorp Inc. Here are some photos of the mine itself.  More on how the Marlin [...]

One of the Guatemala’s most important holidays, All Saints Day (sometimes called Day of the Dead) is marked by festivals mixing Mayan and Catholic traditions. Most activities take place in the cemeteries, where people decorate gravesites and celebrate their dead.  Celebrated on November 1st, here are some photos of the celebrations in San Miguel Ixtahuacan.

I’ve just arrived in Guatemala. I’ll be here for a month continuing work on Someone Else’s Treasure.  Here are a few pictures from my first day here taken during the long drive from Guatemala City to San Marcos in the western highlands near the Mexican border. These were all taken out the window of a [...]

I’ve been working on a project for a while now that I haven’t shown anyone just yet because it’s nowhere close to being ready, I haven’t even decided on a title yet. But in light of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s recent statement at the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, claiming that Canada has no history [...]

These are three posters that I designed recently for the Global Day of Action Against Open Pit Mining.

September 21st was the 37th anniversary of former Philippine dictator Marcos introduced a state of martial law in 1972.
A memorial was organized by BAYAN Canada to honour the memories of the thousands of victims who were disappeared, detained, tortured and killed during the Marcos dictatorship. The memorial was also used to remember over 1000 people [...]

My photo essay on the Toronto Housing Crisis has been published in the current issue of The Dominion.  Check it out HERE
You can also see more on the Toronto Housing Crisis HERE

I was in Mankayan, in the Philippines, about a year and a half ago and one of the issues I reported on was the sinking and ground subsistence in the area as a result of irrisponsible underground mining practices. I recently recieved a message from the Cordillera People’s Alliance reporting that:
“Residents of Brgy* Aurora in [...]

Toronto, ON – May 26, 2009 – Forget Ironman. Forget the Amazing Race. Meet Oxfam Trailwalker, the world’s toughest team challenge. Making its North American debut in Ontario
the weekend of July 24th – 26th, 2009, Trailwalker is considered one of the most demanding outdoor physical challenges on Earth.

Starting at the historic Fort Willow Depot in [...]