By Laura Schober
A climate justice group at the University of Western Ontario is circulating a petition that demands the university end its financial ties with the Royal Bank of Canada. The bank is the leading financier of the tar sands projects in Alberta, and Mobilization for Climate Justice organizer, Toban Black, says RBC’s funding is unethical because it contributes to the harmful environmental effects generated by tar sands.
“In terms of the tar sands alone, it’s the dirtiest oil in the world, because of all the pollution that’s generated as you produce it,” he said.
Black says the petition will be passed along for review to the university’s Senate committee once it is complete.
Black, a student completing his PhD in sociology at Western, noticed there was a lack of student involvement towards the issue of climate justice. Though there were other climate justice groups in London, including the Canadians for Action on Climate Change, Black felt a student group was needed to take action on campus and in the city.
In the summer of 2009, Black, along with a few other students, formed the London chapter of the American climate justice group, Mobilization for Climate Justice.
The group wants the university to stop accepting financial contributions from the bank and also for RBC to remove its ATMs off campus – at least until RBC agrees to stop funding the tar sands.
Black says that their campaign targets RBC in particular because the bank funds the corporations that extract oil from Alberta tar sands, a practice that has created non -environmentally sustainable living conditions in nearby communities.
The Rainforest Action Network, as well as other Canadian chapters of Mobilization for Climate Justice are also trying to stop RBC from financing the tar sands.
“Environmentally, it should be a huge concern for anyone, anywhere in the world,” Black said.
“Looking at the local impacts in Alberta, there also are First Nations people living in the area and water pollution is a major problem from the tar sands.”
Black says the group is calling on RBC to retrain oil workers and to compensate thepeople in the area who have been “victimized” by the environmental affects from the tar sands projects.
Sandra Odendahl, RBC’s director of corporate environmental affairs, says the company is aware of the health problems and water contamination affecting First Nation communities such as Fort MacKay and Fort Chipewyan, located near the tar sands. In the past year, she says RBC has met with representatives from Shell, Petro Canada, and Suncor to discuss what can be done to reduce the pollution in communities located near the tar sand projects.
An Alberta Health study released in 2009 showed an increase in cancer rates among First Nations residents in Fort Chipewyan. The study was conducted between 1995 and 2006.
However, according to a February 2009 Alberta Health Services press release,“an increase in observed cancers over expected could be due to chance, to increased detection, or to increased risk (lifestyle, environmental or occupational) in the community.”
Though the tar sands projects are not “perfect,” Odendahl says that RBC does fund many green initiatives, such as the Blue Water Project, an initiative that fosters water stewardship by awarding grants to not for profit environmental organizations. Recently, a grant was given to Trout Unlimited Canada, which will help restore six watersheds in Qualicum Beach, B.C.
RBC also keeps in contact with activist groups such as the Canadian Boreal Initiative and the Ethical Funds company to find ways to improve their environmental practices. Odendahl says that all Canadian banks, as well as many US and European banks, financially support the energy sector in one way or another.
“We are a Canadian bank and we support the Canadian economy,” said Odendahl.
“We understand where concerns come from, but there is misinformation floating around out there,” she said.
RBC has made financial contributions to Western’s endowment fund, where the money has been allotted towards the Community Services Learning program at the Richard Ivey School of Business and the Economic Policy Research Institute.
Odendahl says even if the petition moves onto the next stage, the bank is unlikely to change their decision about funding the Alberta tar sands because they have been funding the energy industry for decades.
Several Canadian chapters of Mobilization for Climate Justice have staged sit-ins urging the Canadian government to take action on climate change at the offices of several federal officials, including Minister of Transport, Infrastructure, and Communities, John Baird and Minister of Environment, Jim Prentice.
Around the end of November, Mobilization for Climate Justice leafletted outside a downtown London RBC branch, passing out pamphlets to bank customers and telling people about the campaign. Though the group has held two movie screenings and attended a number of environmental events in the fall, they plan to raise their profile in the community by leafletting at local branches more often next term.