Climate protestors in the city gathered outside of the Scotiabank on Red River Rd. to raise awareness of the development of the Line 3 pipeline.

The pipeline stretches from Alberta to Wisconsin, and ends just before Lake Superior.

Rachel Portinga is a PHD Student at Lakehead and one of the organizers of the event, and explains why they chose the front of a Scotiabank for the protest.

“The demonstration today is also about defunding the pipeline, which is funded largely by major banks here in Canada, and we are demanding these banks stop providing loans to the pipeline,” explains Portinga. “Speak to your banks, if you are actually a member of one of these big five banks, which many of us are, make an appointment with the manager of the bank, a banker, or financial advisor and voice your opinions. I have a mortgage with you, I have a loan with you, I have a chequing account with you, and you’re using my money to fund these things.”

Along with Scotiabank, the other ‘big five banks’ include TD, BMO, RBC, and CIBC.

Enbridge is the group behind the development of Line 3.

Portinga goes on to say their history in terms of environmental impact is not promising.

“Enbridge has a history of hundreds of oil spills, the largest one in North America as well,” says Portinga. “We know that pipelines spill so part of what we’re saying today is we don’t want anymore pipelines. We don’t want anymore oil in the water and we certainly don’t want it in Lake Superior. So there are a lot of waters here in Northwestern Ontario that are also threatened by this pipeline, even though the pipeline is not in Northwestern Ontario.”

The $9 billion Line 3 project is the largest in Enbridge’s history.

It also passes through multiple Indigenous territories without consent, including The Red Lake Nation, White Earth Nation, and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe who are all suing to stop it.

Once completed, the Line 3 Pipeline would release as much greenhouse gas as fifty new coal plants.