In solidarity with Wet'suwet'en land defenders and Stand.earth, celebrities urge City National Bank's parent company, Royal Bank of Canada, to defund Coastal GasLink pipeline

LOS ANGELES, March 16, 2022 /CNW/ -- Today, over 65 Hollywood celebrities, including Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Taika Waititi, Scarlett Johansson, Jane Fonda, and Robert Downey Jr., released a letter to City National Bank's (CNB) parent company, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), demanding immediate withdrawal of financial support for Coastal GasLink, a 416-mile pipeline slated to cut through Wet'suwet'en land without consent from hereditary chiefs.

The letter states, "Despite claiming to be a leader in climate conscious banking, since acquiring CNB in 2015, RBC has spent over $160 billion to become one of the world's largest and most aggressive financiers of tar sands, fossil fuel extraction, and transport." 

CNB, dubbed the "Bank of the Stars," is a wholly-owned subsidiary of RBC, lead financier of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Since acquiring CNB in 2015, RBC has doubled down on fossil fuel financing, as the world's fifth largest and Canada's #1 fossil fuel financier.

"Our sacred headwaters, the Wedzin Kwa river, is the lifeline for our people. By financing Coastal GasLink, CNB's parent company RBC is putting us profoundly at risk," said Gidimt'en Checkpoint spokesperson Sleydo', Molly Wickham. "The gas pipeline violates our hereditary title, and has led to years of RCMP violence and harassment of peaceful Indigenous land defenders, and the forced removal of Wet'suwet'en peoples from our territory. We've been crystal clear: RBC must divest from this toxic project, which threatens Wet'suwet'en land, air and water, and steamrolls Indigenous rights."

At an estimated CAD $6.6 billion, RBC is among top commercial banks providing capital, including $275 million in project finance, a co-financed $6.5 billion loan, a $40 million corporate loan, and $200 million in co-financed working capital – while acting as financial advisor.

"CNB and RBC have the opportunity to stand on the right side of history, and that starts with immediately divesting from Coastal GasLink," said actor and activist Mark Ruffalo. "I'm heartened not only by the power of Wet'suwet'en land defenders, but also by my community of artists rising up to demand an end to all fossil fuel finance as we live through this climate catastrophe."

RBC also has millions in Russian oil and gas corporations, including one producing steel for the pipeline. The pipeline has been implicated in recent pushes to divest from Russian assets, as a primary steel supplier is Russian oligarch-controlled Evraz.

"We refuse to allow our industry's bank of choice to associate itself with the abuse of Indigenous Rights or to participate in accelerating the climate crisis," said Alex Ebert, musician and composer. "Despite public statements, CNB's parent company RBC is blatantly disregarding Indigenous peoples and our climate. This letter is not the beginning of this decade-long fight, or even close to the end. If CNB's parent company doesn't divest from its extreme fossil fuel extraction and transport operations, the 'bank of the stars' will be known as the 'bank of the tars'."

"I spoke at RBC's shareholder meeting in 2009 – RBC is not new to these tactics. They have been willfully financing destruction, including in my community through the tar sands, the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world," said Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Senior Director, Indigenous Climate Action. "Bankrolling Coastal GasLink is just the latest example of RBC covering up their role in violating Indigenous rights, not upholding free, prior and informed consent as outlined in UNDRIP, and in exacerbating the climate crisis. In my community, we can't drink our water because of RBC's investments. We want to make sure Wet'suwet'en communities still can."

Communities are taking action in Los Angeles on Friday, March 18, and across North America around RBC's April 7 shareholder meeting.

SOURCE Stand.earth

Contacts: Jennifer Wickham, Gidimt'en Checkpoint Media Coordinator, [phone], [email protected]; Lindsay Meiman, Stand.earth, [phone], [email protected]