VANCOUVER – Greenpeace Canada, local Indigenous artists, volunteers and supporters gathered today outside the Vancouver headquarters of The Metals Company (TMC) to paint a collective street mural and expose the destructive deep sea mining company. The protest, taking place on July 4th, the United States Independence Day, bears significance as TMC is working with the Donald Trump Administration to fast-track deep-sea mining, exploiting the ocean floor for profit. Following the April 2025 executive order from Trump, TMC rushed to apply for the first-ever U.S. deep-sea mining permit, bypassing global regulatory processes, threatening the fragile Pacific seabed in search of polymetallic nodules filled with critical minerals in 25,200 square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean’s Clarion-Clipperton Zone. Many scientists and critics are warning that deep sea mining causes irreparable damage to ocean life and harms vulnerable whale species. Today’s Coast Salish-led mural in downtown Vancouver sends a powerful message: the ocean is not for sale. Every day people, from families, workers and students alike, came together to take courageous action to protect their families, homes and future.
Salomé Sané, Nature & Biodiversity Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, said:
“Art has always been political. This collective mural is a Coast Salish-led initiative and we are honored today to be sharing these spaces to call out the politics of The Metals Company at their doorstep: hands off the deep sea. They are racing to plunder the Pacific seabed, jeopardizing the global process in place, and cozying up to Trump to do so. The Trump-TMC alliance to fast-track deep-sea mining signals a reckless disregard for international law, ignores the voices of Pacific communities and rolls the dice on one of the planet’s last untouched ecosystems.
Salomé Sané continued:
“The global ocean is not a prize for greedy bullies, it is the common heritage of humankind. The Canadian government must choose integrity over complicity and keep the seabed off-limits to extraction. This means reinforcing its support for a global moratorium on deep-sea mining, and opposing the adoption of the Mining Code, which would only open the floodgates to an industry that should never see the light of day.”
The protest comes ahead of a pivotal United Nations international summit where countries will decide whether to finalize the Mining Code, the rulebook that could unleash commercial deep-sea mining. As the home country of The Metals Company, Greenpeace Canada is urging Foreign Minister Anita Anand and Prime Minister Carney to reaffirm Canada’s support for a global moratorium and oppose any adoption of the Mining Code.
The mural was painted using non-toxic, water-soluble paint and spanned a diameter of over 15 feet long and wide. The mural was co-designed and led by Indigenous visual artists Kwiis Hamilton and artist Happy, both Coast Salish artists whose roots of their work are founded in cultural resistance, ecological protection and collective resilience. Street art is a form of civil non-violent disobedience that helps send a large message to politicians who still have not fully grasped the gravity of the climate crisis and the responsibility to protect the oceans.
ENDS
Photos will be available here throughout the day
For more information, please contact:
Sarah, Communications Campaigner, Greenpeace Canada,
[email protected], +1 647 428 0603
