{"id":3203,"date":"2018-07-03T11:57:02","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T15:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=3203"},"modified":"2025-07-02T04:21:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:21:31","slug":"press-release-greenpeace-canada-launches-aerial-bridge-blockade-in-path-of-trans-mountain-oil-tanker-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/press-release\/3203\/press-release-greenpeace-canada-launches-aerial-bridge-blockade-in-path-of-trans-mountain-oil-tanker-traffic\/","title":{"rendered":"PRESS RELEASE: Greenpeace Canada launches aerial bridge blockade in path of Trans Mountain oil tanker traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2014and pipeline companies and banks watching the TMX battle\u2014is clear: \u2018Not in our name, not with our money will any new pipeline be built.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

03 July 2018 (UNCEDED COAST SALISH TERRITORIES \/ VANCOUVER) \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Early this morning, Greenpeace Canada launched a 12-person aerial bridge blockade in the path of a tar sands oil tanker currently docked at Kinder Morgan\u2019s Trans Mountain pipeline terminal.<\/p>\n

This courageous act of resistance to stop the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline and tanker project (TMX) began shortly after 02:00 A.M. Seven people have now rappelled from Vancouver\u2019s Ironworkers Memorial Bridge. Five more climbers are reinforcing the blockade from the bridge catwalk.<\/p>\n

The climbers are in the path of the tar sands oil tanker,\u00a0Serene Sea<\/em>, which is currently docked at the terminal. The tanker was scheduled to leave port this morning but is now being blocked from leaving by the climbers. The multinational climbing team forming this unity blockade hails from the Indigenous Coast Salish community, B.C., Alberta, Quebec, Ontario, the U.S.A (Washington state), Mexico and the U.K.\u00a0Coast Salish unceded territories include the B.C. coast and Salish Sea at the end of the proposed TMX pipeline.<\/p>\n

The climbers plan to raise banners reading\u00a0\u201cTrudeau or Crudeau: Choose\u201d, \u201cDon\u2019t bank on pipelines\u201d and \u201cRespect Indigenous Rights,\u201d sending a message of resistance to the Prime Minister, who\u00a0intends to spend billions of dollars<\/a>\u00a0of public money to purchase TMX\u2014which was abandoned by Kinder Morgan in the face of growing public opposition. The message today extends to the\u00a0builders and financiers<\/a>\u00a0of other controversial pipelines across North America, including any considering backing TMX.<\/p>\n

The climbers will also raise six additional banners reading \u201cProtect Water #StopPipelines,\u201d \u201cProtect Water\u201d and \u201cProtect the Salish Sea\u201d in\u00a0different languages. The banners highlight the threats to clean water posed by oil spills from the TMX pipeline and the 400 tankers it could bring each year to the Salish Sea and the U.S. coast [1]<\/p>\n

The seven climbers now suspended below the bridge are flying vibrant red and teal streamers emblazoned with artwork by celebrated Indigenous artists resisting the pipeline project, including Jackie Fawn, whose resistance art during Standing Rock quickly become iconic [2].<\/p>\n

Will George, an Indigenous Coast Salish member joined the blockade as a climber. He is also the spokesperson and leader of\u00a0<\/strong>Kwekwecnewtxw<\/strong><\/a>. He said:<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI will remain the fierce opposition. It is in my blood to protect the water. Our Indigenous rights are being completely ignored, the safety of our water is being ignored, and most of all my son\u2019s future is at stake. I will do whatever it takes to protect the water and my family and your family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mike Hudema,<\/strong>\u00a0a Greenpeace Canada spokesperson and climber based in Vancouver, said<\/strong>: \u201cPrime Minister Trudeau is standing on the wrong side of history. Climate leaders don\u2019t choose to buy pipelines. World leaders cannot be allowed to approve projects that violate the rights of Indigenous Peoples. The world is watching the choices you make next, Mr. Justin Trudeau.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mary Lovell, a Greenpeace Canada spokesperson and climber from Seattle, Washington, said<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201c<\/strong>We urgently need to protect water because this tanker superhighway threatens the entire coast down to California. We are taking action today to defend water, health, and the climate\u2014and we aren\u2019t alone. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world are standing with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Victoria Henry, a blockade member living in the U.K. who helped turn the Canadian High Commission in London into\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cCrudeau Oil HQ\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in April, said:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cAs a Canadian living in London, U.K., I\u2019ve witnessed first-hand, the damage Trudeau\u2019s choices have done to our global reputation. People are concerned about the risks that the pipelines he supports pose to our climate. I\u2019m here helping to represent the voices of people around the world who have a message for politicians, pipeline companies and the banks financing pipelines: Not in our name, and not with our money will any new pipeline be built.\u201d<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, more than 200,000 people from around the world have joined Greenpeace\u2019s international campaign calling on 12 major global banks (\u201cthe Dirty Dozen\u201d<\/a>) to commit to stop financing controversial new oil and gas pipelines.\u00a0This includes pipelines that would expand Canada\u2019s tar sands (TMX, TransCanada\u2019s Keystone XL, Enbridge\u2019s Line 3) and those proposed by Energy Transfer Partners, which has launched a\u00a0meritless\u00a0$900 million lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against Greenpeace U.S.A, Greenpeace International and other groups, designed to intimidate and silence critics.<\/p>\n

-30-<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Viewing options & Interviews:<\/u><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The blockade is best viewable from\u00a0\u00a0this park location<\/a>\u00a0off Bridgeway Street, just west of the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge on the south side of the inlet. The blockade can also be viewed from New Brighton Park, which can accommodate some parking nearby. Spokespeople will be available at the park location off Bridgeway Street noted above.\u00a0Climbers are also available for interviews after around 9 AM PST. A boat is being made available for press members to get closer to the blockade for photo shoots and B-roll.\u00a0To book a place on the media boat, please contact Greenpeace Canada (see below).<\/strong><\/p>\n

[1] Translations vary slightly. Banners raised in English read \u201cProtect Water #StopPipelines.\u201d The banner raised in French reads \u201cProtect Water #NoToPipelines\u201d. The banner raised in Spanish reads, \u201cProtect Water #StopOil\u201d. The banner raised in Squamish reads \u201cProtect Water\u201d. The banner raised in h\u0259n\u0313q\u0313\u0259min\u0313\u0259m reads \u201cProtect The Salish Sea\u201d. In total, the climbers have deployed four 4-foot by 8-foot banners and seven 4-foot by 4-foot banners.<\/p>\n

[2] The six 10-foot by 40-foot streamers were designed by seven Indigenous artists. The artists (and their Indigenous communities) are listed below in the order in which they are being flown by the climbers, from north to south: Jackie Fawn (Yurok), Ed Archie Noisecat (Salish), Ronnie Dean Harris (St\u014d:lo\/St’\u00e1t’imc), Marissa Nahanee (Squamish and Nisga\u2019a), Will George (Salish) and Protect the Inlet Community, Brandon Gabriel (Kwantlen), Ocean Hyland (Salish).<\/p>\n

Photos:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/greenpeace_canada\/albums\/72157698142848584<\/a><\/p>\n

Hi-res photos, video and b-roll to be added later in the day:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/media.greenpeace.org\/collection\/27MZIFJWLMBUH<\/a><\/p>\n

For more information, visual assets, or to book interviews with the climbers, please contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jesse Firempong, Communications Officer on site: 778-996-6549<\/p>\n

Loujain Kurdi, Communications Officer: 514-577-6657,\u00a0loujain.kurdi@greenpeace.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The message to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2014and pipeline companies and banks watching the TMX battle\u2014is clear: \u2018Not in our name, not with our money will any new pipeline be built.\u2019…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":3207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,32,33],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-3203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate","tag-climate","tag-oil","tag-peacefulprotest","p4-page-type-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3203"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71130,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3203\/revisions\/71130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3203"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=3203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}