Photo: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) arrest Wet’suwet’en Dzeke ze’ (chief) and land defender Freda Huson for her opposition to the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline being built on her territory without consent. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood.

The cost of the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline – being built by Calgary-based TC Energy on Wet’suwet’en territory in northern British Columbia without free, prior and informed consent – continues to increase.

CBC reports: “Coastal’s costs are now up 30 per cent to C$14.5 billion, from the project’s previous estimate of C$11.2 billion, which was already raised by 70 per cent in July from the initial budget [of C$6.2 billion in 2018]. …Costs could increase by another C$1.2 billion if construction extends well into 2024, TC added.”

The article notes one of the reasons for increased costs is “poor work by contractors”. This is particularly worrisome as the company drills under Wedzin Kwa. The Canadian Press adds the company has experienced “unexpected events like drought conditions and erosion and sediment control challenges.”

One of the costs not factored into this is the public subsidy to the RCMP Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) that has repressed, harassed and criminalized Wet’suwet’en land defenders opposed to the pipeline. The C-IRG has received more than $27.6 million since 2018 for this intervention on Wet’suwet’en territory.

PBI-Canada is organizing a webinar on Tuesday February 21 to help amplify the call for the abolition of the C-IRG. To register for that, click here.

TC Energy to sell some assets to pay for CGL pipeline

Reuters also reports: “TC is looking to sell C$5 billion worth of assets this year to raise funds to repay debt and pay for projects including Coastal.”

In December, Reuters noted: “The sales may reassure the market that TC will not need to issue common equity to raise funds in light of Coastal’s cost over-runs and a deal in August to develop a $4.5 billion pipeline in Mexico, RBC analyst Robert Kwan said.”

Opposition to TC Energy in Mexico

The “$4.5 billion pipeline” refers to the TC Energy Southeast Gateway Pipeline (Gasoducto Puerta al Sureste), announced in August 2022, that will carry 1.3 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas and serve as an additional power source for the new state-owned Pemex Olmeca Dos Bocas oil refinery in Paraiso, Tabasco state.

By September 2023, that refinery is expected to process 340,000 barrels per day of crude oil and yield 280,000 barrels per day of gasoline and diesel.

Bnamericas has reported: “In a letter signed by 18 civil society organizations, including Greenpeace México, and coordinated by the Mexican center for environmental law (CEMDA), the group said the project posed a ‘grave risk’ of environmental damage, given that the pipeline route passes through the gulf’s 600km southwestern coral reef corridor.”

The PBI-Mexico accompanied People’s Front in Defense of Land and Water of Morelos, Puebla and Tlaxcala signed the letter against this pipeline.

Nahua land defender Miryam Vargas Teutle with the Peoples Front in Defence of Land and Water in Morelos, Puebla, Tlaxcala (FPDTA).

TC Energy has five fully owned pipelines currently operating in Mexico and is the largest Canadian investor in Mexico.

One of those pipelines is the Encino-Topolobampo pipeline that was successfully resisted by the San Elías Repechique Forest community who fought for the pipeline to be rerouted away from the ancestral territory of the Rarámuri in Chihuahua.

The PBI-Mexico accompanied Community Technical Consultancy, A.C. (CONTEC) supported the community in its opposition to this pipeline.

Rarámuri land defender Teresa González Parra.

TC Energy was also building the stalled Tuxpan-Tula pipeline resisted by the Otomi peoples because it would cross the sacred hills of the Pahuatlán region in the state of Puebla.

In December 2021, the research team that prepared Territories of water: defense of community areas and the shared history of their peoples (before the Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline) presented this report to the Otomi, Nahua and Tepehua communities grouped together as the Regional Council of Indigenous Peoples in Defense of the Territory of Puebla and Hidalgo.

At that time, Des Informemonos reported: “The people of the Regional Council accepted and celebrated the document, and pledged to continue their fight, and eventually to establish links with the Wet’suwet’en communities that resist TC-Energy in Canada.”

We continue to follow this situation.

Photo: On April 23-24, 2022, PBI-Mexico accompanied the conclusion of the Caravan for Water and Life in the Nahuatl community of Cuentepec. The caravan/march that expressed opposition to the TC Energy Tuxpan-Tula gas pipeline was launched at the National Meeting of Struggles Against Gas Pipelines and Death Projects in January 2022 (a gathering that was also accompanied by PBI-Mexico).

On January 31, Decolonial Solidarity Ottawa posted on Instagram:

“We leafleted today with students from the University of Ottawa’s Climate Justice group (@cjcuottawa) protesting RBC’s funding of the CGL pipeline on Wet’suwet’en Territory. And CJCUO launched a petition demanding the university end their partnership with RBC, kick the RBC kiosk off campus and end the bank’s sponsorship of campus activities. We handed out 100+ leaflets while RBC shut down the kiosk and called campus & RBC security as well the Ottawa police.”

In their Instagram post announcing the petition, Climate Justice Climatique UO (CJCUO) and Banking on a Better Future highlight: “RBC funds pipelines that violate Indigenous sovereignty, including the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and the Trans Mountain Expansion.”

And the petition states:

“RBC predominantly finances the Coastal Gaslink Pipeline and underwrites the Trans Mountain Pipeline. These are both projects that violate the principles of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Coastal Gaslink Pipeline does not have the consent of the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who have recognized jurisdiction over part of the territory it would cross. The Trans Mountain pipeline does not have consent from local First Nations including the Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh and faces ongoing opposition by the Secwepemc Tiny House Warriors.”

The petition can be read in full – and signed – here.

This comes just a few weeks after an important vote.

On November 29, 2022, CJCUO and Banking on a Better Future posted on Instagram:

“STUDENT WIN: University of Ottawa Student Union votes to cut ties with RBC! This Saturday, students at the University of Ottawa voted unanimously for the student unions club service to cut ties with RBC, noting ties between RBC, fossil fuel expansion and violations of Indigenous rights. Solidarity with student organizers! RBC off our campuses! No banks on our campuses!”

For more on the Climate Justice Climatique UO (cjcuottawa) on Instagram, click here. More about Decolonial Solidarity – Ottawa Hub on Twitter here.

Photo: Tortuguita with their nephew in 2020. Photo provided by Daniel Esteban Paez via the Associated Press.

Manuel Esteban “Tortuguita” Páez Terán was killed by Georgia police on January 18. They were 26 years old, Indigenous Venezuelan, queer and nonbinary, “a trained medic, a loving partner, a dear friend, a brave soul, and so much more.”

Tortuguita was living in the Weelaunee Forest southeast of Atlanta, Georgia in opposition to the proposed “Cop City” training facility.

Organizer-writer-lawyer Kamau Franklin has explained:

“Cop City is an idea that came after the 2020 uprisings, by the city of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta Foundation — the Atlanta Police Foundation. The idea, basically, is that they want to develop a militarized police base that’s right next to a Black and Brown working-class community. And by building this base, they want to cut down over a hundred acres of forest. They want to develop an area where there is room for explosive testing — explosives testing, over 12 firing ranges, a place where there’s a Black Hawk helicopter landing pad, a training center for them to practice crowd control.”

The Atlanta Police Foundation

Forbes has also explained:

“In September 2021, then-Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms approved a lease agreement with the Atlanta Police Foundation to establish a police and fire department training facility, which will use over 85 acres of land in a local Atlanta forest, making it one of the largest police training facilities in the U.S. APF is a nonprofit organization, which uses private money to support policing efforts in various ways, like funding citywide surveillance cameras and founding a police leadership institute.”

Teen Vogue further explains:

“The Atlanta Police Foundation, a nonprofit that serves as the funding arm for many of the Atlanta Police Department’s projects and supplements the city’s already bloated policing budget, has led the charge on Cop City, whether promising the majority of funding ($60 million of $90 million total), selecting the Weelaunee Forest as the site of the proposed facility, or using its corporate backers to pressure city leadership to move forward with the plan despite widespread public opposition.”

And NBC has reported:

“City officials have said the training center would be funded in part by the Atlanta Police Foundation through “philanthropic and corporate donations”… According to an investigation by NBC affiliate WXIA, 80% of the foundation’s money comes from private donations, and the foundation’s board of trustees includes executives from Waffle House, AT&T, Delta Air Lines and other companies.”

LittleSis.org has also published the image below in their article: Meet the Major Corporations and Cultural Institutions Helping Build Cop City in Atlanta.

Enbridge funding of Minnesota police

It should be noted that funding provided (through an escrow account) by a Canadian energy company has also resulted in violence against land defenders in the U.S.

In October 2021, The Guardian reported that Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. paid Minnesota police $2.4 million in reimbursements, as Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman has noted for “all costs tied to the arrests and surveillance of hundreds of water protectors, including officer training, wages, overtime, meals, hotels and equipment for the local police.”

Ojibwe water protector Tara Zhaabowekwe Houska tweeted: “Rubber bullets bought and paid for by Enbridge.”

Police foundations in Canada

Almost three years ago, journalist Martin Lukacs and researcher Tim Groves highlighted the dynamic in Canada with their article: Private Firms Pour Millions into Militarizing Police via Charities (The Tyee, August 24, 2020).

They name several donors to police foundations including LNG Canada and the Royal Bank of Canada (to the Vancouver Police Foundation) and Enbridge, Cenovus and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (to the Calgary Police Foundation).

Their article highlights:

“Canadian police forces have received millions of dollars from oil companies, banks and financiers, through shadowy charitable foundations that have little public oversight and increasingly serve as a “cash cow” of private money. These police-affiliated organizations based in large cities across Canada have funded helicopters, armoured vehicles and surveillance technology for police departments, as well as many community and youth-oriented programs, according to an investigation by The Tyee.”

Lukacs and Groves: “The VPD’s armoured vehicle carried a price tag of $350,000, most of it paid with charity dollars raised by the Vancouver Police Foundation, topped up by Vancouver taxpayers.”

RCMP Heritage Centre fundraising

Earlier this year, the Canadian Press reported: “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the 2019 election campaign that the Liberals would expand the RCMP Heritage Centre, which is currently operated by a charitable organization, into a national institution. …The centre has spent years advocating to gain national museum status, which would require the federal government to amend the Museums Act. National museums operate as Crown Corporations and have their operating costs covered by Ottawa.”

(National museums in Canada include the Canadian Museum of History which has been criticized in the past by 350.org for its sponsorship agreement with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.)

The RCMP Heritage Centre has also explained: “With excitement building around the 150th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and supported by a mandate to commemorate this significant part of Canadian history, the RCMP Heritage Centre is advancing plans to become Canada’s newest national museum.”

“To prepare for the path ahead,” it also recently advertised for a Fund Development Associate whose tasks would include: “Research public and private grant agencies, foundations, corporations and individuals to identify potential sources of grant, sponsorship and major gift or donation funding.”

Photo: Teepee with RCMP logo on it outside the RCMP Heritage Centre.

How will the story of the C-IRG be told?

The RCMP Heritage Centre has noted: “There are many proud chapters in the RCMP story, and others that are intensely painful. By acknowledging the struggles of the past, the Museum will offer the chance for visitors to reflect, hear from diverse perspectives, and learn about Canada’s history and its future.”

But how would the story of the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) be told by the Heritage Centre or the new national museum?

The RCMP says:

“The Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) was created in 2017 to provide strategic oversight addressing energy industry incidents and related public order, national security and crime issues. Its mandate is to ensure a consistent, standardized and impartially administered police response across the province. The C-IRG uses a measured approach in facilitating the peaceful resolution of public disorder issues. They proactively engage all stakeholders through open communication and meaningful dialogue.”

Wet’suwet’en land defenders have a different experience to tell about the C-IRG.

At a Decolonial Solidarity event in Montreal in December of last year, land defender Sleydo said: “The RCMP, the private mercenaries for industry and governments, the Community-Industry Response Group.”

She has also stated: “We want to live free on our lands, without the constant threat of violence by C-IRG, who are illegally occupying Gidimt’en territory.” 

On November 23, 2021, Sleydo’ emerged from four days in police custody following the heavily-armed RCMP raid on her territory that enabled the continued construction of the RBC-financed Coastal GasLink pipeline without free, prior and informed consent. She said: “C-IRG and the RCMP need to be abolished. Anybody who is not into prison abolition should be after this experience that we’ve had.”

We continue to follow this.

Atmos reports: “In what is believed to be the first case of a land defender killed in the U.S. for their activism, a Georgia State Patrol trooper killed 26-year-old Manuel Esteban Páez Terán on Jan. 18. But Páez Terán wasn’t known as Manuel to most people; their chosen name was Tortuguita, or Tort, which translates to Little Turtle in Spanish.”

Tortuguita was living in the Weelaunee Forest southeast of Atlanta, Georgia in opposition to the proposed “Cop City” training facility.

Organizer-writer-lawyer Kamau Franklin has explained:

“Cop City is an idea that came after the 2020 uprisings, by the city of Atlanta, the Atlanta Police Department and the Atlanta Foundation — the Atlanta Police Foundation. The idea, basically, is that they want to develop a militarized police base that’s right next to a Black and Brown working-class community. And by building this base, they want to cut down over a hundred acres of forest. They want to develop an area where there is room for explosive testing — explosives testing, over 12 firing ranges, a place where there’s a Black Hawk helicopter landing pad, a training center for them to practice crowd control.”

Among the organizations that have denounced on social media the murder of Tortuguita:

Political leaders in the United States are now supporting the call for an independent investigation of the murder of Tortuguita.

For updates on this situation, please see the Twitter accounts for Defend the Atlanta Forest, Kamau Franklin and Steven Donziger.

And for more background and analysis on this, please see Atlanta Police Kill Forest Defender at Protest Encampment Near Proposed “Cop City” Training Center (Democracy Now, January 20), ‘Assassinated in cold blood’: activist killed protesting Georgia’s ‘Cop City’ (The Guardian, January 21) and The Death of a Forest Defender at “Stop Cop City” (Truthout, January 26).

The Daily Show video can be seen here.