Ottawa - Members of Climate Justice Ottawa, dressed as Big Oil representatives hiding behind green masks, were outside the Chateau Laurier on October 25th denouncing the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)’s new false dialogue as yet another attempted greenwashing tactic by to promote the Tar Sands as a sustainable source of energy.
On October 25th and 26th, CAPP, in collaboration with the Canada School of Energy and Environment, met in Ottawa with various hand-picked stakeholders to continue their “National Oil Sands dialogue”.
For years now, CAPP has been trying to hide the harsh realities of the Tar Sands by building a green facade. But behind this facade, the problems remain. “The bottom line is that the oil industry only seeks to expand its operations and maximize profit for its shareholders”, says Natasha Peters of Climate Justice Ottawa. Held in multiple cities across Canada, these CAPP led “false-dialogues” are part of a vast public relations campaign which includes billboards to falsely promote the Tar Sands as sustainable. Some of these can be found on the streets of Ottawa.
“The Tar Sands are not and will never be sustainable,” Emelia Koberg, an organizer with Climate Justice Ottawa explains. “Immediate action is needed to address the climate crisis, stop the destruction of the land and respect the affected communities. An immediate moratorium on the Tar Sands must be implemented and this much needed change will not be lead by CAPP.”
Tar sands development is on track to destroy a section of Canada’s boreal forest the size of England. The rapidly increasing carbon pollution from this mega-project and other global sources is fueling climate change, which already results in the deaths of an estimated 150,000 people each year and threatens upwards of 70% of the planet’s species with extinction.
Climate Justice Ottawa, a group of concerned community members, is calling for the federal government to take serious action on climate change, to implement an immediate moratorium on tar sands expansion, and take the role of affected First Nations communities seriously in deciding the future of this megaproject.
UPDATE: When concerned community members who see through big oil’s greenwashing arrived outside the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers “dialogue” at the Chateau Laurier they spoke to many passers by who were also incredibly concerned about the state of tar sands development. A spokeswoman from CAPP was worried by the demonstration and came to speak to organizers from Climate Justice Ottawa, inviting them into the event to be “listened” to. Climate Justice Ottawa saw through the masqerade and politely declined the offer because any kind of national discussion cannot be lead by industry, seeing as they have the most to profit from the fundamentally unsustainable project, An immediate moratorium on tar sands expansion is needed and the role of affected First Nations communities needs to be taken seriously in deciding the future of this megaproject. After filming the interaction between CAPP and demonstrators, CBC declined an interview from CAPP.
