No More Dirty Banks: RBC is Financing Violations of Indigenous Rights

Apr 4

RBC needs to stop funding the tar sands, fueling the climate crisis, and violating Indigenous rights.

The Tar Sands are the #1 largest fossil fuel impact zone in the world and one of the leading contributors to climate change with devastating impacts on Indigenous communities. They are also funding the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which threatens Wet’suwet’en homelands despite the Hereditary Chiefs saying NO to the project.

The Royal Bank of Canada is not new to Indigenous rights violations. RBC has been heavily invested in the tar sands for years. A report just released called Banking on Climate Choas shows that since the beginning of the pandemic, Canada’s 5 largest banks have increased their tar sands funding by more then 50% to the tune of 23.3 billion dollars. The Royal Bank of Canada is in the lead for Canadian banks and ranks #5 in the top fossil fuel banks, globally.

Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Co-Founder of Indigenous Climate Action, will be speaking on the devastating impacts the Tar Sands has had on her Community at the Royal Bank of Canada's AGM on Thursday, April 7th.

Melina will also be in attendance for a press conference following the AGM with STAND and NoMoreDirtyBanks with Speakers including Wet'suwet'en Hereditary Chiefs, Melina Laboucan-Massimo and others that will be live streamed starting at 12:30 p.m. EST on ICA’s Facebook page.

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Last month

On March 16th, a formal letter was signed by over 65 Hollywood celebrities that was released in Variety Magazine and launched on www.nomoredirtybanks.com.

A virtual press conference to launch the campaign took place on March 16th, with words from Mark Ruffalo, Chief Na’moks, Sleydo’ (Molly Wickam) from Gidimt’en Checkpoint, Eugene Kung which was moderated by ICA’s senior director Melina Laboucan-Massimo.

This campaign was jointly launched by Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Indigenous Climate Action.

Watch the virtual press conference:

What is this campaign all about?

City National Bank, known as the “Bank to the Stars,” and its parent company, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) are actively funding the climate crisis and the violation of Indigenous rights. The Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline project is proceeding without the consent of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, who are asserting their rights over their land.

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Wet’suwet’en land defenders have been fighting this pipeline for over a decade, and have suffered brutal police violence for defending their land from a fracked gas pipeline that would threaten their drinking water and way of life.

Though RBC claims to be a leader in climate-conscious banking, since acquiring CNB in 2015 RBC has spent over $160 billion, making it one of the world’s most aggressive financiers of the tar sands and fossil fuel extraction.

These banks must stop funding fossil fuel projects, especially fracking and tar sands.