Advertisement

News

Why I run Line 9

Enbridge’s Line 9 began carrying tar sands crude without much notice on Tuesday, December 3, but the protests against the project continue. 

The Financial Post, quoting a company source, confirmed that on its first day of operation, 60,000 barrels of diluted bitumen crude flowed through the 40-year-old pipeline to Montreal refineries. This included highly volatile Bakken crude from North Dakota. 

The pipeline, which will carry up to 300,000 barrels a day, was briefly shut down on December 7 by Quebec activists who locked themselves to equipment and released footage on social media showing them closing one of the pipeline valves. They say Enbridge has only repaired a fraction of the sections between Sarnia and Montreal identified as being at risk for leaks.

Enter Rachel Thevenard, a 22-year-old from Kitchener who is running the entire length of the 831-kilometre pipeline from Aamjiwnaang territory outside Sarnia all the way to Montreal. She wants to raise awareness of the environmental dangers posed by the pipeline and support the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation in their legal battle against the energy giant. The Chippewas of the Thames First Nation are asking the Supreme Court to hear their appeal of the Federal Court decision upholding the National Energy Board’s (NEB) approval of the Enbridge project across their territory. The Chippewas argued that the Crown failed in its duty to consult under section 35 of the Constitution.

On December 14, NOW met Thevenard at the Finch subway station and accompanied her on a wet (but unseasonably mild for mid-December) run tracing the route of the pipeline along trails, through fields, over fences and along railways and roads until she finished for the day 30 kilometres east at the entrance to the Toronto Zoo.

“The Crown has not consulted on Line 9, and there is no possibility that Enbridge has done so meaningfully,” says Thevenard, adding, “They are pumping tar sands crude through the heart of Toronto. They don’t care.”

Council has passed a resolution asking Enbridge not to proceed with the project. After that was ignored, council revised its ask with a new resolution requiring emergency shut-off valves to be installed at all major water crossings in Toronto, which also seems to have been ignored.

In a September 2014 mayoral debate between John Tory and Olivia Chow, Tory mocked opposition to the pipeline. “How would you transport the oil? Would you do it through a bucket brigade?”

Speaking to NOW back then, Tory expressed full confidence in the NEB decision, saying, “Everything possible is done to make sure that any pipeline built anywhere is as safe as can possibly be.” Pipeline opponents, however, criticize the NEB for being too closely aligned with the interests of the oil industry. 

A December 9 letter to newly minted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from community groups, including Greenpeace, 350.org and Jane and Finch Action Against Poverty, is calling on the Liberal government to restructure the NEB review process to prioritize “upstream and downstream impacts, contribution to catastrophic climate change, and respect of indigenous treaty rights.”

“Line 9 means expansion of the tar sands, and that means more CO2 in the air,” says Thevenard. 

The distinction between speaking and acting on climate change is not lost on Thevenard. “While Canada was at the climate summit in Paris, we have turned on this giant tar sands pipeline right through our communities. It is completely unacceptable.”

Thevenard explains her inspiration. “I saw indigenous people disproportionately putting their bodies on the line in this fight to protect the land and water, and I thought that I, as a settler, should be running.”

news@nowtoronto.com | @nowtoronto 

Advertisement

Exclusive content and events straight to your inbox

Subscribe to our Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

By signing up, I agree to receive emails from Now Toronto and to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Recently Posted