Last year the highest average global temperature was recorded, two days in a row. The Lower Mainland is experiencing hotter summers, with low rainfall. Increased temperatures and droughts heighten extreme fire risks. Climate change factors endanger residents, students, teachers, workers, and visitors in the area as well as threatening the lives of animals and trees within these ecosystems.

Burnaby Mountain with its storage of fossil fuels and its pipeline. Many people live in residences, attend school, or work in the vicinity. There are two elementary schools and the SFU Campus, as well as institutions and businesses locally located in this high risk zone deserve a robust emergency preparedness plan to protect and save lives. We know that adjacent communities face threats due to the dynamics of high winds on fires, as we witness in California, with the potential to spread to other local mountains and adjacent communities. Additionally, there are the impacts on soil stability, air quality, and water contamination in the wake of such disasters.

Join us for a community-led town hall to discuss the urgent safety and environmental risks posed by the Trans Mountain Tank Farm and Pipeline System. We invite respectful and open dialogues between community members, Host Nation leaders, members of our municipal, provincial and federal governments, Trans Mountain Corporation, and safety officials.

Bring your questions. Get answers.

This Community Town Hall includes a light meal. Please RSVP via bit.ly/BurnabyTownHall (Please do not use the RSVP option here)

Location: SFU Student Union Building - Ballroom (5th Floor), 8888 University Drive W, Burnaby (the map here is generated automatically and does not represent the actual location)

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OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR MIKE HURLEY

February 24, 2025

Dear Mayor Hurley,

We are a collective of concerned residents, students and youth, elders, health professionals, businesses and community organizers. Many of us live, study and work on Burnaby Mountain where the Trans Mountain Burnaby tank terminal is located. Many of us have been trying to share concerns and find clarity on how to prepare for a tank fire, wildfire, pipeline rupture, gas leak, or combination of these disasters. As the ones to bear direct costs of a tank fire and accompanying hazards such as smoke and toxic gases, and conflagration of homes and forests, we urgently need a public process built on meaningful and ongoing consultation, transparency, accountability, and community care.

Therefore, we invite you to the Community Town Hall at SFU Student Union Building (Ballroom), 8888 University Dr W, Burnaby, on Monday, March 17 from 5:30 – 8:30 pm. This process provides a safe space for all to share safety concerns and attend to emergency preparedness related to the Trans Mountain tank farm and pipelines. We invite respectful and open dialogues between community members, Host Nation leaders, members of our municipal, provincial and federal governments, Trans Mountain Corporation, and safety officials.

We understand that the City of Burnaby is planning for a full-scale emergency exercise in 2027, and that the City is expanding its emergency response capacities, including building two new fire stations and establishing a public alert system. We also understand that the City is working with multiple agencies and organizations on emergency preparedness. However, our efforts to consult with the City so far have been met with silence. We are living through a climate emergency and we have witnessed ongoing and devastating loss from wildfires, heat domes and floods. Our community members have varying forms and degrees of vulnerabilities not limited to age, ability, health conditions, stable housing and other economic conditions. All of our concerns regarding fire safety and emergency preparedness and evacuations must be considered and attended to. Furthermore, we are extremely concerned about the “Community Contribution Agreement” signed between Trans Mountain Corporation and the City of Burnaby on September 27th, 2024, and the manner in which it was done without any community consultation. We believe a public process built on meaningful and ongoing consultation, transparency, accountability, and community care is urgently needed.

In the spirit of mutual respect and collaboration, we look forward to your participation as a Burnaby resident as well as a policy maker and elected member of the City of Burnaby. Burnaby Code of Conduct Bylaw 2023 No. 14557, 3.2 Standards of Conduct (v) states: “Council members will listen to and consider the opinions and needs of the members community on all decision-making and allow public discourse and feedback.”

We hope that this Community Town Hall serves as a beginning for future town hall processes leading up to and including the full-scale exercise.

Please respond to this invitation at 350sfu@gmail.com by 11:59PM PST on Wednesday, March 5th.

Sincerely,

SFU350

Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS)

Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE)

Kwekwecnewtxw

Canadian Association of Nurses for the Environment (CANE)

Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE)

Protect the Planet

Mountain Protectors

West Coast Climate Action Network (WE-CAN)