Stop all Construction on Coastal GasLink, Site C and Trans Mountain: risk of COVID 19
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister, John Horgan, Premier of B.C., Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry
While people are warned to remain at home and take precautions due to COVID 19, the oil and gas industry is continuing work along pipeline routes, and industry is pushing forward with mega-projects across Canada.
Workers on these projects are living in man camps by the hundreds in tight quarters, sharing meals and housing, and are unable to quarantine, increasing the risk posed to both communities and workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected at least 590,000 people and claimed tens of thousands of lives — and yet politicians and fossil fuel CEOs are continuing to put thousands of workers, and people in the northern and rural communities they are working in, at severe risk for oil and gas profits.
We say no more. This is atrocious. Canada needs to respect Indigenous health. Tell Justin Trudeau, Adrian Dix and John Horgan to stop all construction on Coastal GasLink, Site C, and Trans Mountain now!
Use your voice now and rise up in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs, communities in Fort St John impacted by Site C construction, and Tiny House Warriors along the Trans Mountain pipeline route, as well as all communities impacted by man camps on their territories. Sign the letter demanding that Canadian politicians and companies stop this immense risk to public health.
Wet’suwet’en hereditary leadership has already filed a lawsuit raising their concerns about the impacts of man camps in their territory, and yet these camps are growing before the cases are even heard. CGL and the RCMP continue to enter Wet’suwet’en territories despite opposition from all five Wet’suwet’en clans.
The Tiny House Warriors in Secwepmec territories are calling for an end to construction and man camps by TransMountain.
And the Union of BC Indian Chiefs sent an open letter demanding that “immediate action be taken to compel BC Hydro to halt all construction at Site C Dam due to the risk COVID-19 now poses to vulnerable workers and nearby Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in northeast B.C.”
Join these powerful warriors and add to the pressure. Call for a halt to all construction in Wet’suwet’en territories, in Secwepmec territories, and at the Site C Dam immediately, in order to protect vulnerable communities and workers immediately.
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Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister, John Horgan, Premier of B.C., Adrian Dix, Minister of Health, and Dr. Bonnie Henry
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During COVID19 where people everywhere are staying home to keep each other safe, Coastal GasLink, BC Hydro, Trans Mountain, the mining industry and the RCMP are still sending hundreds of workers from all over the country to remote northern communities with limited health resources putting entire communities at risk.
Before the outbreak of COVID 19 Coastal GasLink acknowledged in their permit application that temporary workers could overwhelm local healthcare systems. In this current context Coastal Gas Link and the Federal and Provincial governments’ decision to keep people working is grossly endangering the lives of both workers and members of northern communities.
To keep their jobs, people are coming in on three week shifts and eating in crowded mess halls where limiting the transmission of COVID 19 is extremely difficult, and then using services in local communities like Houston, Fort St John and Smithers where they can spread the virus to members of the community with already limited healthcare access.
Workers on these projects are traveling from all over the country to live in man camps by the hundreds in tight quarters, sharing meals and housing, and are unable to quarantine, increasing the risk posed to both communities and workers.
In Northern communities healthcare access is already limited and vulnerable to being overrun by COVID-19 patients. The influx of hundreds or thousands of out of town workers living in close quarters puts these communities at severe risk of having their health systems completely overwhelmed.
Because John Horgan has exempted construction workers from his order to limit gatherings of 50 people or more, workers who fear for their own safety and choose not to go to work are not eligible for unemployment insurance, which they would be eligible for if construction was ordered to stop as other businesses are being ordered to do.
We demand that all work halt in Wet’suwet’en territories, in Secwepmec territories, and at the Site C Dam immediately, in order to protect vulnerable communities and workers immediately.