For immediate release: October 19, 2021
Indigenous-led campaign, endorsed by 100+ groups, urges global investors andbanks to divest from and stop financing Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada; Financing
violates racial justice commitments and reconciliation; Campaign builds on TMX
campaign that saw 16 insurers drop the project
Unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ territories (VANCOUVER, BC) —The Gidimt’en Checkpoint from the Wet’suwet’en Nation — the same Nation whose protests
sparked rail blockades across Canada in 2020 — issued a letter today to over 35 Coastal
GasLink (CGL) investors and banks in Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia,
the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States. The letter demands
investors and banks — including JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, RBC, Scotiabank, BMO,
Royal Dutch Shell, and CaixaBank — cease and withdraw all support from Coastal GasLinkand LNG Canada and highlights how financing the project violates Indigenous rights andbreaks any investor commitments to racial justice, reconciliation, and social responsibility.
Coastal GasLink is a proposed 670-kilometer-long pipeline that would carry fracked gas fromnortheast BC to a future liquefied natural gas terminal on the coast, LNG Canada, the largestof its kind ever proposed in Canada.
Endorsed by over 100 organizations around the world, the #DivestCGL campaign mirrors thepressure tactics which led to 16 insurance companies dropping the Trans Mountain (TMX)
pipeline project.
The Coastal GasLink pipeline violates Wet’suwet’en rights and title, and lacks consent ofWet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs. The 37 investors and banks targeted by thecampaign include Canada’s Big 5 Banks, which last month issued statements committing tojustice for Indigenous peoples. RBC sponsored Truth and Reconciliation Week, which
included broadcast programs on the Truth and Reconciliation Commmission’s calls to action.
One of these calls is for corporations to commit to meaningful consultation and building
respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples before proceeding with economic
development projects. Against the backdrop of the banks’ recent public commitments toreconciliation, the banks’ hypocrisy in financing Coastal GasLink is especially striking.
“Reconciliation isn’t financing a project that’s destroying our land, without our consent.
Coastal GasLink has not engaged in respectful consultation with us. Backing this project
implicates investors in perpetuating violence to our land and on my people,” says Molly
Wickham, Gidimt’en, Wet’suwet’en Nation, Hereditary name Sleydo’. “If investors areserious about their commitments to social responsibility and racial justice, they must commit
to not financing projects that threaten Wet’suwet’en sovereignty, violate our land andsacrifice our future. Otherwise, when companies talk of reconciliation, it’s just empty
promises — and we’ve had more than enough of those already.”
The 100+ groups pledging solidarity from around the world include 350.org, Seed
Indigenous Youth Climate Network in Australia, Oil Change International, Leadnow,
Rainforest Action Network, RAVEN, Fossil Free California and Giniw Collective, anIndigenous and women-led frontline resistance group in the United States.
“At what point do corporations, which are made up of people, begin to act like fellow humanbeings who drink water? How much more of the world needs to burn and how many moregross human rights violations are tolerable by actors engaged in investments that steal life
from future generations? Accountability and oversight are more than owed for such reckless
behavior, at this point in the climate crisis,” says Tara Houska, Couchiching First
Nation,founder of Giniw Collective. “We stand in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land
defenders protecting the sacred and standing up to corporate greed.”“New fossil fuel projects are not only inconsistent with the Paris Agreement, they are risky
investments because they will inevitably become stranded assets as the world shifts torenewable energy,” says Rob Henderson, former Chief Economist, Markets at National
Australia Bank, one of Coastal GasLink’s investors.The Australian economics and financeconsultant adds, “Financing Coastal GasLink is a huge backwards step for National Australia
Bank and a real blow to the bank’s standing with the increasingly influential Corporate Social
Responsibility investment community, both because it is a fossil fuel enabling development,and also that it is in direct conflict with the wishes of local Indigenous people."“This pipeline isn't about the so called “safe” transportation of a necessary product its thefinal gasp of a dying industry desperately trying to perpetuate fossil fuel use in a society thatknows its past time to to make better choices for energy use, “ said Amy Gray, Senior
Climate Finance Strategist at Stand.earth “All pipelines leak and they wreak havoc fromthe extraction through the route of the pipeline all the way to the communities who live in theshadow of the refineries. It’s time to stop funding these dangerous pipelines and respect
Indigenous sovereignty, frontline communities and re-invest in a just and equitable transition
to renewable energy.”
The Coastal GasLink project is at the centre of a high-profile conflict over Wet’suwet’en landrights. On January 4, 2020, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary chiefs served an eviction notice toCoastal GasLink for proceeding to construct the pipeline without their consent, which wasignored by the company. Shortly after, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
conducted a five-day military raid on resistance camps, violently evicting land defenders.
This set off nationwide solidarity protests and railway blockades, delaying shipping traffic forweeks and garnering global media attention.
Today, militarized police presence continues on Wet’suwet’en territory, with the ongoing
conflict involving forceful arrests of land defenders protecting a culturally significant ancientsite. Last week, Gidimt’en Checkpoint issued a call to action to supporters for global
solidarity actions, to shine a light on Coastal GasLink’s continued violation of Wet’suwet’enrights.
For more information or to arrange an interview, contact:
Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Media Coordinator, 778-210-0067
yintahaccess@gmail.com
Additional quotes

"Corporations need to step up and deliver on their commitments to social responsibility.
Banks and investors need to stop financing fossil fuel projects that violate the rights andsovereignty of Indigenous people for their own financial gain," says Mary Lovell from
Rainforest Action Network. "Global investors are due for a moment of reckoning, as they
face increasing resistance to these toxic projects that harm communities. Climate justice is
racial justice, and these corporations are being held accountable for their actions.

Endorsing Orgs Include:
Stand.earth
350.org
Giniw Collective
Climate Emergency Unit
Oak Bay Climate Force
North Island Climate Hub
Oil Change International
SumOfUs
The Climate Reality Project CanadaÉquiterre
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area
Earth Guardians Bay Area Crew
Fossil Free California
Divest Ed
Toronto350
350 New Orleans
350 Maine
Revolution Coalition
350 Butte County
350 New Hampshire
Zero Hour
Comox Valley Council of Canadians
Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
Wilderness Committee
Rainforest Action Network
Maine Youth for Climate Justice
Climate Pledge Collective
RAVEN (Respecting Aboriginal Values and Environmental Needs)
Leadnow
Terrace Council of Canadians
350 Eastside (Seattle)
The WaterWealth Project350 Hawaii
New York Youth Climate Leaders
Environmental Defence
Greenpeace Canada
Banking on a Better FutureTransition Kamloops Network
Fridays For Future Windsor Essex
Climate Justice Montreal
350 Spokane
Divest Canada
Quit RBC - Extinction Rebellion Québec, Canada
Friday’s For Future Fenelon Falls
350 Montreal
Climate Justice Montreal
350Vermont
Extinction Rebellion QC
Le Ministère de la nouvelle normalité
Jubilee Australia Research Centre
ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change)
Green Music AustraliaWomen's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
Original Power
Fundación Renovables
Protect Our Winters Canada
Ecologistas en Acción-Spain
Ecologistas en Acción Región Murciana
Comox Valley Council of CanadiansLand Rights Now
UpliftFridays For Future Calgary
Fridays For Future Quinte
Friends of the Earth Japan
Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES)
BreakFree Switzerland
BankTrack
Private Equity Stakeholder Project
350 Colorado
Earth Action, Inc.
Earth Guardians
Extinction Rebellion San Francisco Bay Area
Bold Alliance
350PDX
Future Coalition
Yellow Point Ecological Society
Grand(m)others Act to Save the Planet GASPUnion of BC Indian Chiefs, UBCICCoast Protectors
350.org Japan
Friends of the Earth Canada
Fossil Free London
350 Hawaii
Our Part Foundation​Seeding Sovereignty

Climate Action Rhode Island – 350
Market Forces
350 Vancouver
Extinction Rebellion New Orleans
350 Colorado Springs
350 Northern Colorado
Fridays for Future Regina
Friends of the Earth US
North West Watch
Oil Change International