Church asks for help to fight pipeline construction

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This article was published 13/05/2021 (1920 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MEMBERS of a Winnipeg Mennonite church are inviting other faith groups to join them as they call for a halt to the Line 3 pipeline construction through Indigenous territory in Minnesota.

The invitation was made by a group of 10 people from Hope Mennonite Church, Mennonite Church Manitoba congregation.

They are asking people to send a letter to TD Bank, one of the main financiers behind the Enbridge-owned pipeline, to warn about the environmental danger the pipeline poses and call attention to the violation of treaty rights of Indigenous groups.

Organizer Josiah Neufeld said writing the letter is a way to show solidarity with the Red Lake Nation, the White Earth Nation and Mille Lacs Nation, and to “lament our part in something as harmful as fossil fuel economy at a time when the Canadian government wants to see us move to net zero carbon.”

The expansion of the pipeline, which carries oil from Alberta through the Prairies to the U.S., is almost complete except for that portion in Minnesota, Neufeld said.

“It is being resisted by Indigenous people in that state, who haven’t given consent to it being built,” he said, adding it travels through wetlands and waterways that would be severely damaged if there is a leak.

“All pipelines will leak at one point or another,” he said.

The letter, which can be found at https://stopthemoneypipeline.com/defund-line-3, asks TD Bank and other banks to stop providing financing for the pipeline, which is being built “without the free, prior and informed consent of the Indigenous peoples who have lived there since time immemorial.”

If built, it goes on to say, “Line 3 would destroy the sacred wild rice beds that the Anishinaabe people depend on for their food, culture and way of life.”

Neufeld, 40, said the issue is a spiritual matter because of “how I choose to live in the world, and how I want to stand in solidarity with those who are marginalized. That’s my understanding of what my faith means.”

It’s also a matter of caring for creation, he said, noting “it’s all entwined… our spiritual well-being is connected with the well-being of the world around us.”

Construction of the US$3-billion pipeline began last year to replace a pipeline with a larger pipe that will be able to carry about 370,000 additional barrels of oil annually from Alberta’s oilsands to the U.S. Midwest and Eastern Canada.

It has been opposed by American environmental groups and several Indigenous groups in northern Minnesota, who fear potential spills.

The line also crosses through Manitoba, near Gretna.

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