Watch: Raw video of #lockpetrocultures protest at McGill
MONTREAL – Several dozen protesters briefly took over the building where the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) was hosting its annual conference.
The reason? Oil.
As conference-goers arrived at the McGill Faculty Club to register early Friday morning, they were greeted by masked protesters, who had locked themselves in the building.
The topic of the conference was a decidedly controversial one: “Petrocultures: Oil, Energy and Canada’s Future.” Taking place over two days, it featured leading figures on all sides of the oil debate.
On Friday, Ezra Levant, Sun News personality and author of Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands was debating with environmental activist and writer Tzeporah Berman.
Often cited as an example of how discussion around oil can get ugly, Levant suggests in his book that oil sands production in Canada is ethically responsible when compared with importing oil from countries where political oppression and human rights are an issue.
Hosted in conjunction with the University of Alberta, the conference aimed to discuss contentious issues such as petro-democracy, petrocultures, regulatory responsibility and oil safety and ownership.
Speakers from the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation, the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Jeanne Sauvé Foundation presented and debated various issues.
Despite the non-partisan approach of the conference, protesters were frustrated by the fact that controversial speakers were given a platform.
“No matter what their personal convictions, participants in such a debate legitimate the pro-tar sands, pro-fracking, colonialist position by granting its defenders a speaking platform and a considered response,” said a note passed through a door held shut with rope.
The protest was held by a group who said on its website that the protest was launched “in solidarity with blockades and lockdowns of pipelines and extractive projects across Turtle Island.”
A recent open letter from QPIRG-McGill published on Thursday in the McGill Daily also “unequivocally” denounced conference.
“The fact that in Montreal, a university can host a conference about fossil fuel extraction that lacks any focus on global warming is telling of how insulated most of its participants are from the real impacts of climate change,” it noted.
“The question “Is ours a petro-culture?” is unlikely to address the realities of the First Peoples of these territories, and the fact that the only Indigenous representation at the conference will be there to discuss the question “Who owns our oil?” seems like a mockery.”
As protesters unfurled a banner reading “Shut down the tar sands,” organizers moved everyone to another location – and the debate continued.
For more information on the conference, click here.
Read the full programme of events below:
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