April 28, 2018 I, along with many others of faith, Christian, Muslim, Jewish and even Buddhist, accepted an invitation from our neighbour indigenous folk to join them in their protest the Kinder Morgan project. Indeed, I and two sister Mennonites were the first of our denomination that day to partake in civil disobedient action that could have got us arrested. I believe one should have good reasons for why one would undertake such controversial, in the eyes of some, action, and I also believe I need to share them.
After a lengthy and excellent informed period of orientation, preparation and encouragement by our solicitously appreciative and supportive indigenous hosts and other protest organizers, some of us decided on taking this ‘action’ while others chose to remain as supporters. We all then marched the short distance from the protest camp base at a City of Burnaby soccer field (the City of Burnaby also remains opposed to this expansion of fossil fuel transport and handling in their lands, so they do not seem to dissuade this dissent) to the entrance to the Kinder Morgan tank farm. The three of us mentioned, who had chosen to join the first banner-carrying team of some ten individuals, then stood in the rain for 3 hours in front of the gate to the Kinder Morgan tank farm holding the accepted protest banner while faith leaders spoke in turn and protest songs were sung.
Eventually, after an hour or more, the RCMP, who had arrived some time before this but stayed at a distance, came and read the court injunction forbidding our action and outlining the consequences. We were then given time to decide whether we wanted to go all the way to get arrested or leave. The organizers had said this period of grace was generally ten to fifteen minutes. When the police had not returned for nearly an hour, even the leaders began to wonder what was up. That was when we decided to leave and let those of our team who wished to carry on be augmented by members of the second team to replace us. We had decided at the outset we did not believe we needed to be arrested to make our point and show our solidarity with our co-religionists and the indigenous and other folk who protest the KM project.
When challenged first of all as to as to why I would do this, one of the key reasons is in that first introductory sentence. I am fully aware of the reports that say many First Nations bands have signed agreements with Kinder Morgan to allow the project to go through their lands. However, I have also noticed that we are not hearing much from these groups. I am not sure of the reasons why. I do not want to cast negative aspersions against them, but is it because it is not politically correct for them to speak out on such action? First Nations seem to like to put themselves out there as guarding the land, as seeing it as sacred, so how could they allow this ‘black snake,’ as some refer to it, whose ‘head’ is mostly in the tar sands that have done so much damage to this land, to meander through their lands? Perhaps they are keeping quieter because they do not want to further disunity between First Nations. Some say they signed because they thought it was inevitable that this pipeline would be built and they were no longer going to be denied the potential benefits. I really can’t fault them for this. They finally have some power that enables them to negotiate such thing for themselves, and that is as it should be. I wonder about that though, as, other than perhaps some jobs in the construction phase, but very few jobs in the long run, and probable cash payout upfront, the benefits are slim. I can’t help but wonder though, in an ideal world, whether even those who signed on would rather not have done so because of their basic worldview. We all makes compromise sometimes.
However, I, along with the rest of my interfaith friends who were on Burnaby Mountain that day, have as our particular neighbours nations such as the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh, who continue to be opposed to the project. We simply believe it is appropriate that we need to stand with ourneighbours first. The nations who accepted the risks of the project are not, narrowly speaking, ourneighbours. They live inland, in the north of BC and in Alberta. Our neighbours have suffered just as much at the hands of us settlers as their fellow indigenous neighbours who signed on. Yet, they have their reasons for opposing the project and deserve to be heard just as much as the peoples who accept it. If anything, they may be remaining truer to the generally understood indigenous worldview of the land, so would that not be even more reason to support them?
As to why I would do this as a Christian, who espouse obeying the laws of the land, I believe I have valid reasons for doing so. In the first place, I am an Anabaptist-Mennonite Christian. We were one of the first groups in the 16thcentury Reformation in Europe to proclaim a belief in separation of church and state. So, we do not always support the actions of the state. The statein Alberta and federally in our land has certainly shown its support for this project. The federal government even wants to use our tax dollars to ensure its completion if the current private enterprise (Kinder Morgan) bails out at the end of this month! As someone opposed to this project here, I find that beyond preposterous. A blank cheque to private enterprise? Subsidizing the fossil fuel enterprise again? This is not social justice which we as Anabaptists believe in.
Furthermore, Christians, in their antipathy to the state in certain areas, have been guilty of civil disobedience from the beginning. Therefore, when we do not agree with the state in its actions because we subscribe to the higher calling of God, we might also be called to civil disobedience. In the KM case, we are protesting the government’s failure to honour commitments to First Nations and their not following their own review procedures for such projects, not to mention not listening to and accepting the objections of a legitimately elected government in our province. As far as the Roman government of the day was concerned, humanly speaking, Jesus was crucified because he was seen as a potential leader of an insurrection against them. The early Christians were killed for their civil disobedience in not worshipping the state gods and the Emperor. Our Anabaptist Mennonite ancestors were killed for their civil disobedience in participating in adult baptism and failing to have their infants baptized, both of which were considered crime against the state.
Besides all the above, there are other environmental and economic problems with the project. We all use fossil fuels and will for some time to come. So why the haste to sell off our resources to other countries when we can use them in the future? When we have made commitments as a nation to improve the environment, why are we working towards processing more fossil fuel for increased consumption here and abroad, so contributing to more pollution that will more than negate our efforts to lower what contributes to global warming or climate change? Other jurisdictions have not been able to acceptably answer BC’s questions about how we can clean up a spill of diluted bitumen. There is no reassurance that the funding for this will be there.
Arguments about the safety of transporting dilbit via pipeline versus truck or train are moot points when the above objections have not even been dealt with. And why does Canada continue to export our resources in their rawest form possible instead of - in this instance- doing more to refine the dilbit. Shipping a much more refined product by pipeline and ship would be much more acceptable. Sure, there is a cost to that, but there is also a cost to continuing to exploit and increase the burning of fossils fuels.
I am not objecting to the project because I think I have all the answers. Perhaps not even because I think this is the only position to take. I object to the present situation for the reasons given. Change the variables and I might no longer object.
Nor am I objecting as a spokesperson for any organization, not even our church or denomination. To be sure, as a member of Mennonite Church BC’s Indigenous Relations Committee, which answers to the Service, Peace and Justice Committee, of which I am currently chair, we did discuss this action in our meetings. It would have been a denial of our mandate to ignore our First Nations pleas by not talking about this. However, we all agreed we had no authority to speak for our conference, so we speak on our own and accept the consequences on our own. At the same time, we know we have support. There were a number of other members of our denomination on the mountain that day, there to support the protest too.
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