Just days after another militarized raid on unceded Wet’suwet’en territory, land defenders arrived in so-called Saskatoon to speak truth to power at the Royal Bank of Canada’s Annual General Meeting.
They came to confront RBC about their support of a project that is at the root of extreme violence repeatedly unleashed on Indigenous people by the RCMP’s Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) — a unit created specifically to protect resource extraction projects on Indigenous lands. On March 29, C-IRG raided a Gidimt’en village site and arrested five Wet’suwet’en land and water protectors — mostly young women and girls, including Chief Woos’ daughter, Jocey.
At the AGM, Indigenous leaders were disrespected and “insulted” as they spoke about how the ongoing theft and destruction of their sovereign Title lands is in direct violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), of which Canada is a signatory. The delegation included land defenders from Mi’kma’ki to the Salish and North Seas.
“Never in [my] life seen this type of racism, exclusion and physical intimidation at an AGM and [I've] been doing this work for decades.”
It’s important to note that the delegation arrived with completed and processed proxy votes. These votes, according to all of RBCs internal rules, allow delegates to attend and speak. These proxies were signed in advance by shareholders who enthusiastically offered up their capacity to present and speak to AGM resolutions. Every form was processed ahead of time, every piece of identification approved, every hotel room and flight booked and paid for. And while it adds neither legitimacy nor validation to the delegation’s story, they carefully followed every single arbitrary rule, and yet they were still shut out of the proceedings. (more...)
RBC’s corporate colonialism on full display at AGM in Saskatoon
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