An Ontario teenager speaking at United Nations General Assembly today sees clean water linked to restricting pipeline development.
Autumn Peltier, a 13-year old water advocate from the Wikwemikong First Nation in northern Ontario, is addressing world leaders today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on World Water Day.
Autumn is part of the official launch of the United Nations International Decade for Action on Water for Sustainable Development project but she also has a special message for Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“Prime Minister Trudeau personally told me he would protect our water just like he promised everyone that he would be a climate leader – instead, he continues to push for three oil sands pipelines: Kinder Morgan, Line 3 and Keystone XL,” said Peltier. “As politicians fail us, so many people are standing up to support the right of Indigenous Peoples to say no to these pipelines, like the 150 Nations all along the pipeline routes who have signed the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion.”
Peltier has travelled the world as a celebrated ambassador for ‘Nibi’ (water) and was the only child from Canadato be nominated for the 2017 International Children’s Peace Prize. On March 10, Peltier led a delegation of Treaty Alliance Chiefs from across Canada to B.C. to support, along with thousands of Coast Protectors, the “Kwekwecnewtxw – Protect the Inlet” project by Coast Salish water protectors who built a traditional Watch House in the path of the Kinder Morgan pipeline.
The Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion, launched on September 22, 2016, opposes the expansion of the Alberta Tar Sands, including the proposed Teck “Frontier” mine (which would be the largest ever open-pit tar sands mine), and bars the passage of proposed tar sands pipeline and rail projects, including their associated tanker traffic, which projects threaten our water and coasts and would fuel catastrophic climate change.
The 150 First Nations and US Tribes who have signed the Indigenous treaty have committed to work collectively to enforce the ban, including against Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain Expansion, TransCanada’s Keystone XL and Enbridge’s Line 3.
(Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion)
