B.C. Indigenous groups renew calls for end to RBC pipeline financing

The Tsleil-Waututh Nation and BC Union of Indian Chiefs (BCUIC) are renewing calls for Canada’s largest banks to stop financing the controversial Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion.

In a letter to RBC dated April 19, the First Nation and BCUIC were “disappointed” with the bank’s expected participation in a $10 billion loan to the project, the second such investment since 2022. The call comes as the project’s cost has now increased to $30.9 billion, according to Trans-Mountain Corp.

Both groups say that RBC is going against its commitment to the environment and Indigenous peoples by financing the expansion.

Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s Sacred Trust spokesperson Charlene Aleck says the project is taking a toll financially, as well as on their traditional land and lifestyle.

“An expansion of… tankers coming in, the extra parking of tankers, within an already small, narrow inlet, is just really felt when you’re on the water, say in our traditional canoes… bringing our children out to practice… it infringes on our way of life to harvest traditional foods,” she told CityNews on Wednesday.

She adds that the local ecosystem has been negatively affected because of the pipeline, adding her people are unable to harvest many of the traditional foods they live on.

“The eelgrass all went away, the kelp which brings in a lot of the herring, small fish, clams, oysters, and muscles… that helps cleans the water and keeps it shady for them to exist, and you step out my front door and onto the beach, and there’s none of that existing at the moment,” she explained.

Aleck wants to see RBC and other banks stop providing loans for this project.

Letters were also sent to the CEOs of BMO, TD, Scotiabank, CIBC, and National Bank.

CityNews has reached out to RBC for comment.