The Trans Mountain pipeline is a massive oil pipeline going from Alberta’s tar sands through to Burnaby, B.C. Thousands of gallons of oil have already threatened marine life, poisoned drinking water, violated Indigenous land rights, and severely compromised our futures. An expansion of this pipeline is currently under construction, and precious land is being torn apart in order to triple the pipeline’s capacity.
Knowing how detrimental an expansion of the pipeline is to the climate crisis, we as the Greenpeace Toronto Local Group participated in a North American-wide week of action to pressure insurance companies to drop their support for the Trans Mountain pipeline. Throughout the week, we joined other environmental groups, like Rainforest Action Network, and stood with Indigenous nations who did not give their prior informed consent to this pipeline, such as the Tsleil-Waututh Nation and the Tiny House Warriors. While we couldn’t all be together physically due to the pandemic restrictions, we still formed a united front to demand the change needed to ensure the health of our planet and future.
The Federal Government has already approved the TMX pipeline regardless of the fact that it violates Indigenous land rights, not to mention the detrimental impacts it will have on the environment, coastal waters, and many species. We don’t want any additional fossil fuel projects and Indigenous rights can’t continue to be neglected. The week of action pressured the insurance companies ensuring this pipeline to stop, such as Berkley, Chubb, Liberty Mutual, and more, as their support is crucial for the project to operate. Being as this was my first big action with the group since I joined a few weeks prior, I was so excited and loved the strategic angle of targeting the insurance companies instead of the government, as it has shown results in other cases. The Keystone pipeline in the U.S being canceled prior to our action gave me an added boost of empowerment.
During this week of action to protect the land being destroyed for cheap profit, we bombarded the insurance companies with emails and called them out on social media, not to mention taking our activism to the streets! On a Sunday, our group of volunteers made our way to the Berkley Insurance building on King Street West, where we got out our paints and chalk and filled the sidewalk with dripping oil imagery, information for the public, and large banners protesting this pipeline. This experience was so inspiring for me and I really do hope it made a difference to the various people out that day, and that the information and actions we took will help educate the public on the dire state our planet is in.
Blue banner artwork: Pete Railand @lookbacktosee
Even though the week of action is over, that definitely doesn’t mean our calls to action are. We should keep pressuring these insurance companies to stop supporting this project (and any other fossil fuel projects) that will set us back even further on the path to renewable energy and a sustainable future.
There are now just six weeks to go before Trans Mountain’s insurance coverage expires, and so this is a crucial window to get some more commitments from insurers. You can still help from now through August 31. Check out this toolkit with lots of digital tactic ideas you can use to engage with insurance companies.
About the author
Maya Kachra
Volunteer with Greenpeace Canada’s Local Toronto Group and
contemporary visual artist
Start volunteering with Greenpeace! Together we spread awareness, bear witness and take action to put an end to the attacks on our planet and its people.