RBC complains to Facebook about “Decolonial Solidarity – RBC at Bank St and First” page

It appears that the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has made three complaints to Facebook about a local Ottawa group’s Decolonial Solidarity page.

“Decolonial Solidarity – RBC at Bank St and First” has organized a series of protests since its formation last summer highlighting the bank’s financing of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline being built without consent on Wet’suwet’en territory and the criminalization of Indigenous land defenders.

“Decolonial Solidarity – RBC at Bank St and First” received no direct communication from RBC, only notifications from Facebook like this one:

RBC appears to have filed two complaints on February 24 and a third on February 27. It’s not clear what RBC specifically saw as a trademark infringement.

It’s also unclear why a bank – that reported a net income of $3.2 billion for the three months ending January 31, 2023 – saw it necessary to report a Facebook page with about 100 followers, which now appears to have been disabled by Facebook.

Over the past year, this Decolonial Solidarity chapter has organized weekly leafleting and numerous actions including:

January 31, 2023: Supporting students from the University of Ottawa’s Climate Justice group calling on the university to kick the RBC kiosk off campus.

December 9, 2022: Wet’suwet’en land defender Eve Saint (via cellphone) and Horizon Ottawa activist Sam Hersh spoke outside the RBC branch in the Glebe.

November 10, 2022: Painting “RBC STOP THE DRILLING” and “RBC, DEFUND CGL” outside the RBC branch on Rideau Street.

November 5, 2022: Screening videos of Wet’suwet’en land defenders on the side of an RBC branch on Wellington Street.

October 21, 2022: Painting salmon on the sidewalk in front of the RBC branch in the Glebe to highlight the impact of CGL drilling under Wedzin Kwa.

September 23, 2022: Bringing the message to Parliament Hill during a climate justice mobilization.

July 2022: Leafleting on a regular basis in front of the RBC branch in the Glebe beginning last summer.

Stand.earth has noted: “RBC is among top commercial banks providing the CGL project with working capital, including CAD $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.”

Stand.earth is now mobilizing to widen the call for RBC to divest from CGL at the time of the bank’s shareholders meeting in Saskatoon on April 6.