First Nations to press Desjardins to stop funding pipelines
First Nations leaders opposed to the oilsands say they are meeting with senior executives at Desjardins Group on Thursday to try to persuade the credit union to make its moratorium on new pipeline funding permanent.
The decision to meet will send a clear statement and will be an important step in opposing both the Energy East and Trans Mountain pipeline projects, said Regional Chief Ghislain Picard of the Assembly of the First Nations of Quebec and Labrador.
“Desjardins taking a stand, you know, making the moratorium permanent, would certainly have a strong effect.”
The credit union imposed the moratorium in July to review its policies on energy infrastructure.
Andre Chapleau, a spokesman for Desjardins, said by email that the review process continues as it listens to various stakeholders internally and externally, including First Nations, ahead of a permanent decision this fall.
Picard said Thursday’s meeting between Desjardins and several leaders from the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion will be an opportunity to bring the group’s message directly to the credit union. “The industry and its lobby is very strong, we know that they won’t give up that easily. But at the same time, we can be just as firm in terms of expressing our positions ...”
The Treaty Alliance will also be pushing for Desjardins to sell its $145-million stake in Kinder Morgan’s credit facility for the Trans Mountain expansion project, part of the firm’s $5.5 billion in credit facilities for the project.
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said the campaign is about battling the oilsands industry on all fronts. “The oil and gas industry had a pretty unfettered access to the financial community, to the investment community in regard to their grandiose expansion plans up until now,” said Phillip. “Now there’s greater scrutiny, and it goes hand in hand with the undeniable, irrefutable evidence of the catastrophic impacts of climate change.”
The pressure helped lead Dutch bank ING Groep NV to sell off its US$120-million investment in the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in the U.S. in March.
Kinder Morgan Canada, however, said in an emailed statement that it has received an outstanding level of support within the financial community. The company counts Canada’s six biggest banks among the more than 20 financial institutions, including Desjardins, who agreed to lend it money.
It also said that while it has signed benefit agreements with most Indigenous groups, it doesn’t expect to get unanimous consent