Communities rally to stop Enbridge Line #9 pipeline Begin

Forwarded Message: Hello Friends, It’s been a while. We have been mostly recuperating from our spring and summer of blockades.

If you missed the actions, we participated in the five blockades of Enbridge work sites in southwestern ‘Ontario’, including the six-day occupation, Dam Line 9.

The update on Line 9 is that the National Energy Board (NEB) rejected Enbridge’s application to go online in October, citing the lack of safety valves on both sides of all major water ways. These would stop the flow of oil in the case of a leak, decreasing the damage.

The NEB decision was likely meant to (temporarily) appease activists and to create the appearance of responsibility with the public. Nevertheless, it was a small victory for the No Line 9 campaign as all of our work combined generated much pressure, media coverage, and public attention which the NEB simply could not ignore.

However, unsurprisingly, the NEB is now agreeing with Enbridge that no additional safety valves are needed and Enbridge is planning to go online by June.

We will be mounting a response to this and hope you will join us. In the meantime, here are three events coming up in Toronto that you may be interested in.

We’ll be in touch again soon!

Rising Tide Toronto

1: Environmental Justice, the Tar Sands, and Indigenous Rights

When: Sunday, February 1, 2015 @ 2:00 pm

Where: Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham St, Toronto Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/794253580610352/

Speakers:

•Heather Milton Lightening, Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign

•Keith Stewart, Climate & Energy Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace Canada

•Anna Zalik, Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University 

Join us to hear about the tar sands extraction process, the controversial tailings ponds, and the resultant contamination of land and water, impacts on surrounding communities, and contribution to global climate change. You will also hear about Treaties in the area and Indigenous rights in general, as well as an assessment of the larger oil sector picture in this country.

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2: Burying Nuclear Waste in Ontario?

When: Saturday February 7, 2015 @ 1:00 pm

Where: St. Stephens in the Field Church, 103 Bellevue, Toronto

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/703866506400035/

There has been much concern and mobilization to stop the plan to bury low and intermediate level nuclear waste next to Lake Huron. But what about the high level nuclear waste? Industry hopes to bury it too, they just don’t know where yet.

Currently, there are 13 communities in ON and SK involved in the ‘Learn More’ process with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), including one  just NW of Toronto.

The final promise is a $20 billion dollar construction project to bury at least 4.6 million used fuel bundles.

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3: 10th Annual Strawberry Ceremony for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

When: Saturday February 14, 2015 @ 12:30 pm

Where: Police Headquarters, 40 College Street at Bay, Toronto

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/703866506400035/

On February 14th we come together in solidarity with the women who started  this vigil over 20 years ago in Vancouver’s DTES, and with the marches and rallies that will be taking place across this land.

We stand in defense of our lives and to demonstrate against the complicity of the state in the ongoing genocide of Indigenous women and the impunity of state institutions and actors (police, RCMP, coroners’ offices, the courts, and an indifferent federal government) that prevents justice for all Indigenous peoples.

#30#

Krystalline Kraus

krystalline kraus is an intrepid explorer and reporter from Toronto, Canada. A veteran activist and journalist for rabble.ca, she needs no aviator goggles, gas mask or red cape but proceeds fearlessly...