📞 Flood the Phone Lines: RBC must defund Coastal GasLink 📞

BACKGROUND:

Last week, Coastal GasLink installed equipment to drill under, and risk contaminating, Wedzin Kwa, a pure and sacred river revered by the Wet’suwet’en people since time immemorial. After over a decade of fierce resistance to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en need our solidarity more than ever.

This violence is funded by the Royal Bank of Canada; the lead financier of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. RBC provided $275 million in project finance to Coastal GasLink – including a co-financed $6.5 billion loan and a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline.

RBC also holds over 85 million shares in TC Energy, which translates to about 8.6% of the company or more than a $1.03 billion-dollar stake (at $58/share). RBC not only finances TC Energy; it’s deeply invested in the company, and doubly exposed in the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

Thank you so much for calling RBC executives to demand that RBC defund the Coastal GasLink pipeline and stop violating Indigenous rights.

WHO TO CALL: 

Call any of the following Executives – we encourage you to try different numbers, and leave a voicemail if no one picks up. 

– Dave McKay, CEO, dmckay@rbc.com, 416-974-4475

– Stephen Hewitt, Director, Communications, stephen.hewitt@rbc.com, 647-618-3792

– Bruce Wood, Senior Advisor, Policy and Regulatory Affairs, 416-974-0905

– John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, 416-476-6911

– Cynthia Devine, Board Member, cynthia.devine@mlse.com, 905-399-6248

– Dave McKay’s Assistant, 416-974-6821

– Andrew Block, Senior Director, Climate Communications, 647-882-4174

SUGGESTED CALL SCRIPT: 

Hi there, my name is _____ and I live in ___(City / State)_____.

I’m calling because I just heard about RBC’s financing of the Coastal GasLink pipeline that crosses through unceded Wet’suwet’en territory and threatens the headwaters of Wedzin Kwa, the pristine river at the heart of the Wet’suwet’en nation. 

RBC can’t claim to be a climate leader and respect Indigenous rights while funding the dispossession of Indigenous rights, and continuing to be Canada’s largest funder of coal, tar sands, oil and gas.

So I’m urging RBC to do the right thing and:

Immediately pull out of financing for the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline including rescinding the $275 million in project finance and no longer co-financing the 6.5 billion dollar loan provided to Coastal GasLink

1. Immediately stop acting as a financial advisor for the Coastal GasLink pipeline

2. Dump shares in TC Energy

3. Stop funding projects that violate Indigenous sovereignty and rights

Thank you for your time.

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