FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 15, 2014
Communities Across Canada Gear Up to Take on Tar Sands, Harper at Historic People’s Climate Mobilization
Hundreds from Across Canada to Join March in New York, Dozens of Rallies Planned at Home
Media Background Documents: March Logistics & Canada Overview (Including key Canadian contacts and stories)
New York, NY – Next weekend the Peoples Climate March will bring tens of thousands of people to the streets of New York City for one of the largest and most diverse climate change mobilizations in history.
“It’s time to stop negotiating, because whilst these governments haggle over our lives, Indigenous and People of Color on the frontlines are dying.” says Crystal Lameman, a member of the Beaver Lake Cree First Nation and Climate Campaigner with Sierra Club Alberta, also planning to join the march in New York. “We are here to take a stand. Enough is enough, we will not allow these governments to covet our air and our water. We are building a wall of defense and we are stopping tar sands at the source.”
Busses will be travelling to New York from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston and Halifax bringing hundreds of Canadians to the march. Youth, elders, members of the faith community, labour union members, renewable energy advocates, students and many more will be gathering as a part of the Tar Sands Free bloc at the march, marching behind communities impacted by climate disasters like Hurricane Sandy, and Indigenous peoples resisting tar sands and other extreme extraction in Canada and beyond.
“While this will be one of the largest climate marches in history, it also isn’t just about size. It’s about showing that people are standing alongside those impacted most by climate change and extreme extraction,” said Eriel Deranger, Communications Coordinator for the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, who will be marching in New York. “People are impacted from the extraction of carbon polluting industries such as the Tar Sands and fracking, as well as the way to the extreme impacts of climate change. People in New York know that all too well having faced the devastating impacts of Superstorm Sandy. It’s important we march together.”
Stephen Harper has announced he will not attend the UN climate summit happening two days after the march while Canada’s climate inaction and support for fossil fuel expansion remains a major issue blocking global action on climate change.
“It’s shameful that in this era of climate change, Stephen Harper refuses to face the music about his atrocious climate record in front of the world,” says Melina Laboucan-Massimo a member of the Lubicon Cree Nation and Climate Campaigner with Greenpeace Canada, also joining the march. “We know he’s reluctant to go for a reason and we’re prepared to bring momentum home from this march and build a chorus calling for real, just climate action back in Canada.”
Actions are being planned across Canada to coincide with the summit in New York, many connecting the dots between the summit and local struggles against tar sands, pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure. Actions are being planned all along the route of the newly proposed Energy East tar sands pipeline, and hundreds of people are expected to gather on the West Coast for a cross-border rally at the Peace Arch Border Crossing opposing extreme energy exports through the Salish Sea.
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For all inquiries about the March in New York and general media inquiries contact:
Maryam Adrangi – [email protected], 917-355-7292
For inquiries about actions in Canada, buses or to be put in contact with local spokespeople in Canada contact:
Cameron Fenton – [email protected], 604-369-2155