Rainforest Action Network Toronto activists took part in a nation-wide campaign against Royal Bank of Canada, and set up a DIY coffee shop in front of RBC at Yonge and Bloor in Toronto to protest the bank’s involvement in the tar sands. Activists served coffee and tea, providing a visual protest against the water contamination produced by the Alberta Oil Industry. Activists invited passers-by and employees of RBC to have a seat in the temporary cafe and talk with them about the tar sands and how RBC is related to this environmental catastrophe.
RBC is the number one financier of the tar sands, and the tar sands are the top polluter of water resources in Canada. The industry has diverted water from rivers and streams, and contaminated lakes which once provided fish, a staple food for local people. RAN Toronto activists were joined by other anti-tar sands activists, as well as anti-olympic activists.
The police presence was much increased from previous demonstrations, but we’ll take this as good sign that we’re finally starting to get to RBC (or maybe it was PM Harper just next door at the Toronto Library). We had some great discussions in our little cafe with many Torontonians at one of the city’s major intersections, and not surprisingly many people were horrified to find something like this occurring in Canada (but we’re not surprised! Canada is a climate criminal!).
Posing as baristas the activists served up the daily brews of Athabasca Dark€”to allude to the Athabasca watershed which is drying up due to the nearby oil industry; and Tailings Pure€”alluding to the Tailings Ponds made of waste water and mining by-products that are now large enough to be visible from outer space… piping hot cups of reality for RBC! Mmmmmm tastes like bitumen! The menu also displayed the cost of these brews: over 23 billion dollars (the amount RBC has financed in the tar sands in the past decade), violations of aboriginal treaty rights, contamination of waste water, and 140 000km2 of deforestation.
The National Call to Action was launched on Friday by the 2010 Corporate Campaign, a new coalition of groups working to expose RBC’s financing of projects that violate human rights, destroy the environment, and disrespect treaty rights. RBC is a lead sponsor in the 2010 Olympic Games which have a history and, in Vancouver’s case, a current reality of exploitation and misuse of public funds. The bank is using pre-game advertising to portray themselves as a socially and environmentally responsible corporation. These national noon-time actions want to reveal the truth about RBC’s destructive practices.
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RYSE is the youth branch of RAN, Rainforest Action Network, which works to protect the Earth and support human rights through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action.
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say whaaaaaaa!!!! I cant beleive this!! How is something like this not in the news or how are they not being fined or sued or something if they are violating human rights and the aboriginal treaties??? Is this legal?? Keep doing what your doing please someone has to be right and honest in this world.