MOB.LIGNE9.INFO

SPREAD WIDELY : The following statement has been circulating publicly since around 20PM, December 21st, 2015, to be endorsed by groups as well as individual voices in order to support the three activists that were arrested on that morning’s pipeline-stopping action. They have since been released with minimal conditions, which is excellent news, but their struggle isn’t yet over! (For more updates, visit The People versus Enbridge line 9 on Facebook)

This statement is currently endorsed by 64 groups and over 500 invidividuals. The full list of groups is at the bottom of this post.

To add your voice or that of your group/organization, simply fill the form at http://tinyurl.com/line9resisters.

And if you would like to make an interac transfer donation to the legal defence fund, please send it at stopline9@gmail.com and use the password: solidarity.

---

Solidarity with Enbridge Line 9 Resisters

December 21st, 2015

We stand in solidarity with the people who took peaceful action to stop the flow of Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline on the morning of December 21, 2015, on Anishnaabek territory near so-called “Sarnia.” These people, rooted in their communities and committed to environmental advocacy, organic farming, and challenging violence against women, courageously defended their communities, and all of our communities, after all legal avenues to contest the pipeline had been exhausted.

The absence of valid consultation and consent from First Nations and other impacted communities, the impacts of increased tar sands exploitation that are facilitated by the operation of Line 9, the state of this forty-year-old pipeline and the lack of serious measures to ensure its secure operation are some – but not all – of the reasons to denounce the recent increase in capacity and reversal of the flow of Line 9.

As more Canadians should be aware, the Aamjiwnaang First Nation reserve is surrounded by over 60 petroleum refineries and petrochemical facilities that collectively produce 40% of Canada’s annual production of petroleum-based fuels and petrochemicals. Aamjiwnaang is also a crossroads for the North American pipeline system. The health impacts of this concentration of industry on community members living on the reserve are devastating, and include elevated rare cancer rates, elevated miscarriage rates, and a skewed male-to-female birth ratio.

Unfortunately, the Aamjiwnaang community was not adequately consulted, per its Constitutional and treaty rights, regarding the increase in capacity and reversal in the flow of Line 9. This despite the fact that the increased availability of tar sand crude oil has already resulted in the proposal of new refineries in the so-called Chemical Valley surrounding Aamjiwnaang.

It is within this context of environmental racism that Vanessa Gray, Sarah Scanlon, and Stone Stewart chose to take action to shut down the Line 9 pipeline on the morning of December 21st.

Moreover, Aamjiwnaang is not the only place that Line 9 puts people and communities in danger. Line 9 cuts across every major river flowing into Lake Ontario, which millions of Ontarians depend on for their drinking water. The pipeline also crosses numerous tributaries of the Saint Lawrence river, including the Ottawa river and the Rivière des Mille-Îles, putting the drinking water of another three million people at risk. Richard Kuprewicz, an American expert in pipeline security, has predicted that there is a 90% chance of a significant spill in the first five years of Line 9’s operation.(1)

Popular mobilization against Line 9 began years ago. Communities have used all traditional and legal means available to express their dissent, including numerous appeals to elected officials. Yet the governments and government bodies who claim to protect the population have gone ahead with this project. At the federal level, even after making election campaign promises to revise the National Energy Board (NEB) pipeline evaluation process to be more transparent and democratic, the Trudeau government has thus far remained inactive on this issue. The people have the full right to accuse the federal government, the NEB and Enbridge of putting lives in danger, and to take action when these bodies fail to fulfill their responsibilities.

We assert that all those of us who are concerned about the safety and well-being of the land, the water, and all life have the right to defend our communities from this disastrous pipeline project, whose consequences can already be felt in our daily lives. When people decide to undertake direct action at the risk of being criminalized, it is only because a serious situation demands a serious response.

Protecting Mother Earth is not a crime, it is a responsibility.

1. http://toronto.mediacoop.ca/story/enbridge-and-national-energy-board-push-open-line/33578

---

As of Monday, January 11th 2016, 19:00,
this statement is endorsed by :

1. 350 Ottawa
2. ACAB Media (Anti-Capitalist/Anarchist Based Media)
3. Action Environnement Basses Laurentides
4. Alerte Pétrole Rive-Sud
5. Association pour la protection des espaces verts de l’Île Bizard
6. Bombe sur Rail, initiative citoyenne de cyclomobilisation
7. 350.org
8. Cercle des Premières Nations de l’UQAM (CPNUQAM)
9. CESAR – Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson
10. Chorale du peuple (Occupons Montréal)
11. Citizens Climate Lobby (Montreal)
12. Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (CAIA), Toronto
13. Coalition Vigilance Oléoducs
14. Collectif anarchiste Emma Goldman
15. Collectif de résistances infinies (CRI) : collectif autonome, féministe et écologiste actif au Bas-St-Laurent.
16. Collectif le Récif
17. Comité des Citoyens et Citoyennes pour la Protection de l’Environnemet Maskoutain (CCCPEM)
18. Comité de vigilance environnementale de L’est de Montréal (CVEEM)
19. Contre les bitumineux
20. Convoi-citoyen
21. CPT-Indigenous Peoples Solidarity project
22. CUPE 3903 First Nations Solidarity Working Group
23. Divest Dal
24. Divest McGill
25. ECO (Étudiant(e)s contre les oléoducs)
26. East End Against Line 9
27. Enjeux énergies et environnement
28. G.A.P.P.A.
29. Great Lakes Commons Map
30. Greenpeace Canada
31. Groupe HumaniTerre, association étudiante au HEC Montréal
32. Hamilton Chapter of the Council of Canadians
33. International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN), Canada
34. International Socialists
35. Jane Finch Action Against Poverty (JFAAP)
36. Journal Droit de parole, droitdeparole.org
37. Justice Climatique Montréal / Climate Justice Montreal
38. London Chapter, Council of Canadians
39. Maison amérindienne de Mont-Saint-Hilaire
40. Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition
41. Montreal chapter, Council of Canadians
42. Network for the elimination of police violence
43. No More Silence
44. NON à une marée noire dans le Saint-Laurent
45. Peterborough and Kawarthas chapter, Council of Canadians
46. Pipeleaks.org
47. Radio-BED
48. Regroupement citoyen contre les bitumineux et pour le développement durable
49. Résistance Animale
50. Rising Tide, Vancouver – Coast Salish Territories
51. Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly-Milieu de vie
52. Solidarité NABRO – Solidarité avec la Nation Anishinabe (Algonquine) du Bassin versant de la Rivière des Outaouais
53. SOS Territoire
54. Stop Oléoduc Bellechasse-Lévis
55. Stop Oléoduc Capitale nationale
56. Stop Oléoduc Kamouraska
57. STOPC51TO
58. Streams of Justice
59. Toronto 350.org
60. Toronto Seed Library (www.torontoseedlibrary.org)
61. Toronto West End Against Line 9
62. United Jewish People’s Order – Toronto
63. Urban Eatin Landscapes
64. Women in Solidarity with Palestine (WSP), Toronto

… And over 500 individuals from various backgrounds: Patricia Domingos, leader of Parti Équitable and ex-mayor of Sainte-Justine-de-Newton, health workers, social workers, teachers, PhDs, organic farmers, muzzled and disgusted scientists, engineers, retired persons, entrepreneurs, mothers, fathers, an ex Enbridge contractor, students, filmmakers, artists, beekeepers, community organizers and more.