A team from the Yukon has travelled to Toronto to lobby major Canadian banks to commit to withholding money from the destruction of the Arctic Refuge.
Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation (VGFN) Council Member Cheryl Charlie holds the Caribou portfolio, and she went to Bay Street in Toronto to lobby the banks along with Geraldine Blake representing the Gwich’in Tribal Council, Liz Staples, the Caribou Coordinator with VGFN and Chris Rider and Malkolm Boothroyd of CPAWS Yukon. The team went to meet with representatives from four major Canadian Banks, Toronto-Dominion, Scotiabank, RBC and CIBC. The trip comes on the heels of an announcement by American banking giant Goldman Sachs committing to no more investments in new oil projects in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Goldman Sach’s decision came as part of an updated environmental policy, and they acknowledged Indigenous people have used the land for centuries, although the decision also appeared to be financially motivated.
Charlie was on route back to the Yukon today, and she elaborated on the trip. Charlie says one of the goals of the trip was to impress to bank representatives the importance of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Gwich’in way of life. She says the environmental implications of drilling in the refuge are severe and would have significant impact on the Gwich’in people living in the area. According to Charlie, the group asked all four major banks to refuse financing from any oil and gas program specific to the 1002 Lands within the arctic refuge.
Charlie says that given the serious financial implications, they did not expect any of the banks to come up with decisions, but that they will be following up in the new year. She closed by saying that the Gwich’in people are survivors of the land that they continue to occupy for millennia the occupation is directly related to the porcupine caribou herd. Charlie says that “the herd is part of our survival as a people, and we will always stand together and defend our way of life and our culture and identity, which is all related to the caribou, and we will always stand united on that front”.
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