A group of approximately 200 people gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Copenhagen this morning to protest the ongoing development of the Alberta tar sands. As Danish riot police looked on, the crowd demanded an end to international investment in the tar sands project, and denounced the project's harmful impact on native communities. One protester held up a Canadian flag splattered in black lettering calling out Canada for its "climate crime."
Canadian political activist Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine and the anti-corporate classic No Logo, joined the crowd for a brief speech. Klein highlighted the central role of the tar sands project in Canada's negotiating position in Copenhagen.
"Canadians are starting to change their behaviour," said Klein, speaking of growing trends towards recycling, energy-conserving home appliances and resource-conscious lifestyles. "But all of it is being undone by what is happening in the tar sands."
Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians, also made an appearance. "We're here to protect what I call 'Canada's Mordor,'" Barlow said, drawing laughs from the crowd.
Barlow claimed the tar sands development has already caused the deforestation of a swath of boreal forest the size of Greece, transforming the Albertan landscape into something resembling the barren home of the evil Sauron in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series.
"The oily footprints of Canada's tar sands are all over the conference in Copenhagen," Barlow said. Seven days into the COP15 conference, Canada has already received four "Fossil of the Day" awards, and has recently been the subject of calls to have the country banned from the Commonwealth for its support of oil development.
Protesters "rolled out the red carpet" for Stephen Harper, laying out a large banner on the pavement decrying the tar sands. They also delivered a gift basket to Peter Lundy, the Canadian ambassador in Denmark, containing copies of the treaties that activists say are being violated by the tar sands project. Also in the basket was a copy of the Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty on carbon emissions established in 1997. Canada surpassed its carbon reduction targets by a wide margin, and withdrew from the treaty in 2008 to widespread criticism.
The peaceful assembly concluded with the crowd singing a rendition of "Blame Canada," theme song from the South Park movie.
David Ravensbergen is a Vancouver writer.
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goooglemonster
2 years ago
all you do is argue
I personally dont side with any of you..pro tar sands or against. I think both sides are as biased as the Conservatives vs NDP. How is that going to solve anything when you run around like the very people in Ottawa you despise. Exactly, nothing positive will ever come of the whole tar sands or climate change because all of you are little gollums living in a cave of darkness driven mad by the little drips of water echoing..yet you still see little olympic ring waves..and wonder why it drives you mad. You think that Precious is a movie..yet nothing makes sense until you finish the book you were reading and suddenly you realize -The End
PeteL
2 years ago
The thing is ...
I'm getting the sense that most working Canadian's are more in tune with Harper's position than with Maude Barlow.
As yet, we have not heard of any plan to transition the worlds blue collar labour force. What are the forest, mine, smelter, transportation workers supposed to do for a living?
What options are going to open up for the 40 year old industrial workers who has 2 kids, a dog, a mortgage and a family dental plan?
Nobody on the NGO enviro side is talking about this. In fact enviro types actually see blue collar workers as knuckle draggers and their opinions should be just dismissed out of hand by policy makers.
See that's the problem with the enviro types like Suzuki and Maggie May. They see workers as the enemy, and working stiffs can sense this. Thus are likely to punish governments that intentionally kill of what is left of Canada's industrial landscape.
blackie
2 years ago
Myopia unlimited
The general myopia around this issue is staggering, as is the blissful ignorance among most of just how much the national economy depends on the oil sands and other energy resources -- most of which come from the west of course. For an academic exercise, take energy exports out of the trade balance stats and see where that leaves our export/import balance.
Enviros love to go after big oil because it's very easy target; hell, they advocate shutting it all down in the name of ecology. That of course would destroy the Canadian economy, and we would indeed return to a very low carbon emitting society with an unemployment rate of 25% and a whole bunch of hospitals shutting down because there's no money to run them.
The alternative to trying to strike a balance between economic devastation and environmental devastation is to do what Chretien did: sign the Kyoto accord and make a carbon-reduction commitment that gets great press but is up in fantasy land somewhere. The real kicker is he knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew the goals were unattainable. Le Petit gar from Shawinigan was a charlatan at best; he's probably laughing his a** off at his chickens now coming home to roost in Harper's living room. What a great Canadian.,
If all the enviros were really serious about knee-capping big oil, why don't they mount blockades of the nation's major freeways, preferably at rush hour? and maybe for a whole week to get their point across.
Nah -- it's easier to blame big oil and pull off stunts like the Parliament Hill caper. That way they don't alienate their base; all those hypocrites sitting in their cars for a couple of hours every day.
There are days when I think the best answer to all this is to cede government authority, nationally and provincially, to Greenpeace -- and see how long it lasts. Protest is a piece of cake, balanced decisions are a little tougher.
tony.viewfinder
2 years ago
"...most working Canadian's
"...most working Canadian's are more in tune with Harper's position than with Maude Barlow."
"As yet, we have not heard of any plan to transition the worlds blue collar labour force. What are the forest, mine, smelter, transportation workers supposed to do for a living?"
Why don't you ask Harper that very question? He's the one who went billions of bucks in the hole to build highways and bridges rather than focus on say, investing in future friendly renewable resource innovation or digital broadband infrastructure or other ways for workers to make a transition.
Ask yourself what the childrens' children of the working class are going to be doing in 50 years time? More than likely, it'll be staring into the face of an abyss because our generation sat on it hands and let it happen.
I'm a working Canadian and I detest Harper, his alleged policies and absolute lack of vision.