Indigenous Climate Action and Sacred Earth Solar assert our unwavering opposition to Enbridge’s proposed new Line 3 pipeline, which would support the transport of nearly a million barrels of tar sands oil each day over 1600 kilometres of watersheds, wetlands, wild rice beds, and sacred sites.

We offer the following statement to outline our opposition to the Line 3 pipeline and invite other Indigenous networks, organizations, Nations and our Allies in so-called Canada to sign on with additional support.  (Click here for a sign on letter in the so-called USA) 

Line 3 would be Enbridge’s biggest pipeline project, crossing traditional territories protected by the Blackfoot, Cree/Nehiyaw, and Métis in Canada, before cutting through the heart of Anishinaabe territory, including Ojibwe treaty lands. The project does not have the free, prior and informed consent of all Indigenous Peoples living along the pipeline route, making it a direct violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. We will not be silent as our rights and the rights of our relatives are violated.

Active resistance to this project from Indigenous Peoples has been present since the beginning, and it continues today. Prime Minister Trudeau and his government ignored this opposition when they approved construction in 2016 resulting in years of active organizing and demonstrations south of the medicine line to protect the lands, waters and community members put at risk. President Biden has an opportunity to stand with Indigenous communities to show his commitment to respecting our collective rights, and shut down this dangerous climate fueling pipeline.

This is a project forcefully being pushed through by the same company that has been pushing heavy oil pipelines on communities across Turtle Island.  They have a legacy of destruction, not the least of which is the largest ever inland oil spill in the Kalamazoo river. A spill from Line 3 anywhere in North America would desecrate the land and poison the water and surrounding communities with toxic tar sands oil. Furthermore, the emissions from this project will irreparably harm the air and the climate. We cannot allow this.

As Indigenous Peoples’, it is our inherent right, and our responsibility to all our relations, our ancestors, and the generations that will come after us to protect the lands, waters, and climate from the severe threat of tar sands extraction and heavy oil transportation. The expansion of the Alberta tar sands is a danger to all the peoples – Indigenous or otherwise – of Turtle Island and beyond.

In signing this declaration, we affirm that we are united and stand with all Indigenous land defenders and water protectors actively resisting the dangerous Line 3 pipeline across North America. This project does not have our consent and should not be built.