May Stands with the Tsleil-waututh, Squamish and Musqueum First Nations
BURNABY – POLITICS – Green Party leader Elizabeth May (MP, Saanich-Gulf Islands) was arrested Friday morning at the Burnaby Mountain worksite of the Kinder Morgan pipeline project. May is promising to stand firm with the Tsleil-waututh, Squamish and Musqueum First Nations and their supporters across Canada in opposing what she is calling “The disastrous, climate-destroying Trans Mountain pipeline expansion”.
“I am keeping my word,” says May after she was released. “I said I would stand in solidarity with the First Nations opposing Kinder Morgan and I am keeping my word. Non-violent civil disobedience is legitimate as a means of expression but it is a step I have not taken before. Even standing on the logging roads of Clayoquot Sound in 1993, I stepped aside when asked to do so. I can no longer step aside.”
Ms. May said that she respects our courts and does not take violating an injunction lightly. “I await the court ruling on the legitimacy of the permit issued to Kinder Morgan. Unfortunately, the federal government and the Texas corporation are not awaiting the ruling of the Federal Court. Kinder Morgan is committed to acts constituting irreparable harm ‒ to the environment and to indigenous rights.
“I will continue to stand in solidarity with the First Nations on whose land these acts of vandalism are now being committed. Non-violent civil disobedience is the moral obligation of the climate-aware, responsible citizen.”
