Feb 28
Earlier this week Vancouver Sun reporter Peter O’Neill wrote the naïvely titled story RCMP claim of B.C. anti-pipeline extremists shocks native, environmental leaders. From one perspective the story was gut-bustingly funny, blatant misinformation so poorly researched it could have come from the Vancouver Observer. But it was also profoundly disturbing- dangerously sloppy reporting that could potentially get people hurt. The story …
Feb 21
Earlier this week Greenpeace released a document they acquired from the RCMP. The paper warns that certain elements of the environmental movement pose a “realistic criminal threat to Canada’s petroleum industry, its workers and assets, and to first responders”. As expected, the news has caused quite a stir in the environmentalist world- with many supporters using …
Feb 14
In early January Vancouver activist Dan Wallace announced a potentially exciting protest called #ShutDownCanada. The organizer’s goal was to get people to join in from coast-to-coast-to-coast, block critical infrastructure, and “severely impact: the country’s economy”. Adding to the anouncement, Wallace declared the event would “respect diversity of tactics”- activist code that means it’s acceptable if …
Jul 08
The Ontario Trillium Foundation is a provincial government agency whose purpose is to build “healthy and vibrant communities” by “strengthening the capacity of the voluntary sector”. Causes they support include arts & culture, environment, social services and recreation. Trillium promote themselves on their website as “Ontario’s leading grant-maker”. Trillium grant recipients get more than just …
Jun 13
If indications are correct this summer’s hottest pipeline protest will be at the Unist’ot’en action camp, an indigenous/anarchist ‘blockade’ near Smithers, BC that claims to be at the junction of several planned pipelines. The list of activists who’ve visited Unist’ot’en includes a who’s who of the militant community and their associated NGOs- Harsha Walia of …
May 27
On Saturday afternoon I got a tweet from Antonia Zerbisias at the Toronto Star. She and I’ve had a bit of a rivalry over the past year, Antonia got quite upset after I criticized her reckless support of militant activists who promote violence (she got quite nasty in return). So, considering Antonia’s past behavior (and …
May 02
Last December when a joint review panel recommended that the government approves Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline project, it didn’t take long for the activist community to declare war; promising a long hot summer of protests, blockades, and (potentially) sabotage and violence. Ben West of Forest Ethics encapsulated the mood well, telling the CBC: “If these …