Demand that McGill University Divest from CGL Pipelineru (RU No. 80)

Demand that McGill University Divest from CGL Pipeline

On December 1, McGill students held an action to protest the Canadian state’s violent repression of Wet’suwet’en Indigenous land defenders who are demanding an end to the construction of the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline on their unceded territory, and an end to its support by the Canadian state including militarized RCMP attacks to remove land defenders from their territory.

McGill University has invested $4,770,450 in TC Energy Corp as part of its endowment portfolio. McGill is investing directly in the construction of the CGL pipeline on Wet’suwet’en lands.

The event was co-hosted by Divest McGill, Indigenous Student Alliance, with support from CKUT 90.3FM, QPIRG/GRIP McGill, Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights McGill – SPHR McGill, Divest for Human Rights Campaign at McGill, McGill Nurses for Planetary Health and the Black Students’ Network of McGill.

The petition below was delivered to the McGill administration demanding that the university divest from TC Energy.

Petition Urging McGill University to Divest from TC Energy Corporation

Tiohtià:ke, Montréal, May 2021

This is an urgent appeal to immediately respond to the persisting crisis of colonial injustice being directed at the Wet’suwet’en Nation in the context of the push by TC Energy Corporation to construct the environmentally destructive $6.2-billion Coastal GasLink Pipeline against the collective wishes of the Wet’suwet’en people.

Today, McGill University holds significant endowment investments in the Coastal GasLink Pipeline, and this is unacceptable. This must change. Right now, McGill University holds an investment of $4,770,450 in TC Energy Corp as part of its endowment portfolio.[1] This investment in a colonial and environmentally destructive pipeline must stop right now.

Read additional details within an open letter on this subject published in The McGill Daily. [2]

It must be made clear that by investing in the TC Energy Corp stock, McGill is not only directly funding a project which violates Indigenous human rights, but also delivers a social licence for this violent pipeline to operate while profiting off of said violations.

Though we are physically far from Wet’suwet’en territory, we are outraged that institutions in Montreal, including McGill, are complicit in making the CGL pipeline possible. Some of these connections were made more obvious during the creative actions that residents in the Greater Montreal area took in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation in January and February of 2020. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Wet’suwet’en territory and the Coastal GasLink pipeline are no longer in the headlines, but the project continues apace.

This global petition is being presented by Divest McGill, in collaboration with a network of community activists in the city who are working to build sustained support for the Wet’suwet’en struggle for Indigenous sovereignty and to stop the imposition of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline on the Indigenous territories. We are collectively saying no to TC Energy.

We stand with the demands of the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation that call upon the ceasing of construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline, the immediate withdrawal of the RCMP and associated security and police forces from Wet’suwet’en territory, and that Wet’suwet’en self-determination is honoured by respecting their decisions, laws, and governance structures.

Also, today we recognize that the ongoing and unwelcome construction of the Coastal Gas Link Pipeline has delivered a dangerous reality to the Wet’suwet’en Nation: COVID-19. Pipeline construction workers have been flown in from across Canada, directly into the Wet’suwet’en Nation and delivered a pandemic wave to the community which has had a devastating impact on Wet’suwet’en elders, with many losing their lives to COVID-19. This reality currently taking place in the Wet’suwet’en Nation has been documented by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE).[3]

Signatories of this petition demand that McGill University and its Board of Governors:

1. Immediately divest its endowment investments in the TC Energy Corp stock;

2. Use its influence to pressure the Federal government for immediate withdrawal of the RCMP and associated security and police forces from Wet’suwet’en territory;

3. Use its influence to pressure the Federal and provincial governments to push for the ceasing of the Coastal GasLink pipeline construction;

4. Use its influence to pressure the Federal and provincial governments to honour the Wet’suwet’en nation’s self-determination and sovereignty by respecting their decisions, laws, and governance structures;

5. Work with other universities, including UdeM, Concordia and UQAM, banks, including TD, CIBC, Scotiabank, RBC, BMO and private institutions to divest from the TC Energy stock and cut any economic and/or funding relationships with TC Energy Corporation.

Thank you for considering this petition and taking the time to engage, our heartfelt love and solidarity.

Notes

1. McGill investments in TC Energy Corp. click here.
2. For Open Letter click here.
3. Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment .