More than 65 celebrities and Wet’suwet’en land defenders have announced a new campaign to urge the withdrawal of financial support for the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
Celebrities like Leonardo Dicaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Scarlett Johansson are calling on the Royal Bank of Canada to stop financial support for the project immediately.
.@CityNational’s parent company @RBC is violating the rights of indigenous Wet'suwet'en people & bankrolling climate crisis.Join @Gidimten,@Indigenous_ca and 65+ stars to demand they divest from @CoastalGaslink & its source,the tar sands: https://t.co/tbAVF3tM4V #NoMoreDirtyBanks
— Leonardo DiCaprio (@LeoDiCaprio) March 18, 2022
The letter and campaign called “No More Dirty Banks” comes after Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs met with executives on February 25.
On the website for this campaign Mark Ruffalo expressed his support for the Hereditary Chiefs by saying they never consented to the pipeline.
Earlier this week, a news conference was held that featured Ruffalo, Hereditary Chief Na’Moks and Sleydo’ also known as Molly Wickham.
Today, I’m joining 65+ Hollywood celebrities & @Indigenous_ca to demand @CityNational’s parent company @RBC withdraw support for the @CoastalGasLink pipeline, which is in violation of the rights & sovereignty of @Gidimten people. https://t.co/YXlhEPDovt https://t.co/uRGkdp6hwm
— Mark Ruffalo (@MarkRuffalo) March 16, 2022
“The Supreme Court of Canada recognizes Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs as rightful title holders of the land but corporations still get away with consulting only elected leadership put in place by the colonial government and not the rightful title holders,” he said.
Today (Friday) celebrities and supporters are expected to gather in Los Angeles where they will march to City National Bank, RBC’s parent company.
Additionally, during the meeting with RBC the Hereditary Chiefs gave the bank until March 11 to withdraw the financing for the pipeline.
According to a news release, RBC is among one of the top commercial banks that have provided the project with a working capital.
While the Hereditary Chiefs oppose the pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en Elected Chiefs approve of the pipeline and most recently Indigenous groups have signed a historic agreement with TC Energy for the CGL pipeline.
RBC is scheduled to host its Annual General Meeting where they are expected to discuss sustainability.