Statement to the Court on November 19, 2018

by The Reverend Doctor Victoria Marie

Many supporters were at the BC Supreme Court to support the five of us who were arrested on May 18th: Judith Rees0-Thomas, Danika Dinsmore, Rev. Ron Berezan, Jo Ann Murray and me. I was given the opportunity to address the court before being sentenced to 120 community service. 

Judge Affleck and members of the court, 

The first half of my adult life was spent in an alcoholic haze.  However, since I sobered up in 1990, I have dedicated my life to justice, peace and love for all of God's creation.  In 1997, I joined a Franciscan Order of nuns and remained a nun until my ordination as a priest six years ago.  My faith and dedication to justice were the motivating factors for my participation in a peaceful, public protest at the gates of Kinder Morgan Tank Farm.  I admit violating the injunction but my actions were in support of the laws of principles of Canada. 

For example, as a signatory nation to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNRIP), Canada has agreed to adopt and respect the principle of free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous Peoples in all matters covered by their specific rights and to obtain their free and informed prior consent when the preservation of their cultural resources, especially those associated with their way of life.  By approving the KM pipeline, Canada violated this principle with regard to members of the Tsleil-Waututh and other coastal First Nations of BC.  This made KM's continued pipeline preparation and building activities also violations of UNDRIP.

“The federal Fisheries Act gives the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans the legislative authority to protect fish and fish habitat from destructive activities in marine and Inland waters.”[1]  Kinder Morgan,, was charged with 4 separate infractions of the Water Sustainability Act after illegally tampering with salmon spawning by placing snow fencing in salmon spawning streams.    Kinder Morgan was recently cited several times by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for pile driving in Burrard Inlet at levels much louder than those permitted during construction and failing to report the violations as required at the time.  Preservation of the acoustic environment has become critical for Southern resident orca whales.[2] 

Kinder Morgan’s Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) policy statement claims, “Kinder Morgan’s policy is to comply with all health, safety, security and environmental laws, rules and regulations, not just because it is legally required, but also because we believe it is the responsible way to conduct our business and to promote greater environmental responsibility.[3]”  In contradiction to this, their workers at the Westbridge Marine Terminal have  put a metal casing over an eagle's nest to prevent a pair of eagles from accessing their nest.  This is clearly a violation of the BC Wildlife Act, which states: “A person commits an offence if the person, except as provided by regulation, possesses, takes, injures, molests or destroys” a bird or its egg, the nest of certain birds, including eagles, or any nest occupied by a bird or its egg.[4]

I responded the way I did because my faith demands it.  I believe reconciliation is not an event.  Rather, it is a process.  Reconciliation is more than an apology.  Rather, it is the process of building relationships of mutual respect and mutual trust.  To that end my faith demands that I respond to Article 48 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions Call to Action, which calls on all faith and interfaith groups:

·        to formally adopt and comply with the principles, norms, and standards of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation

·        to repudiate concepts used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples, such as the Doctrine of Discovery and terra nullius[5]

Like, Father John Dear, we Kinder Morgan Pipeline protestors have a "vision of peace, nonviolence, and the new creation, the vision of the promised land before us, the practice of proactive nonviolence, that offers a way out of environmental destruction, as well as permanent war, corporate greed, systemic racism, and extreme poverty."[6]

When I say I believe in the sanctity of all life, that includes non-human life: the creatures of the sea and the birds of the air.  It also includes human livelihood.  Overriding it all is the desire to follow Jesus' command to love.  That is why at the gates of Kinder Morgan Tank Farm we prayed for justice for our Indigenous brothers and sisters and for Kinder Morgan workers, we prayed for the Eagle pair evicted from their home.  We prayed for the Earth and her waters. 

In short, I violated the injunction because I knew that I was to undergo major surgery in June and I did not want to die without doing what I could to support the laws and principles that the government of Canada espouse but were being ignored.  These are the very same laws and principles that my faith demands that I follow regarding Indigenous and all Peoples, the land, waters and flora and fauna of this land.  Thank you for listening.

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[1]    http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/272733.pdf, p. 2

[2]    Johnson, Mandi. “How vessel noise affects killer whales” in The Islands' Weekly. 23 January 2018. Retrieved  on 9 August 2018 from http://www.islandsweekly.com/news/how-vessel-noise-affects-killer-whales/

[3]
      https://www.kindermorgan.com/content/docs/ehs_policy_statement.pdf

[4]
      Wildlife Act [RSBC 1996] Chapter 488, General Provision 34  http://www.bclaws.ca/EPLibraries/bclaws_new/document/ID/freeside/00_96488_01#section6

[5]
    http://templatelab.com/truth-and-reconciliation-commission-calls-to-action/

[6]
      Dear, John. They Will Inherit the Earth: Peace and Nonviolence in a Time of Climate Change. [Kindle Loc. 108] 2018