CALGARY:

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE CORPORATE TAR SANDS:

For non-Canadians who may read this board the Alberta Tar Sands is Canada's largest energy project, perhaps the largest in the western hemisphere. It is estimated that there is more oil locked in the sands of the Athabasca region of Alberta than there are under Saudi Arabia. The problem is that they are more difficult to extract than the "drill and pump" reservoirs traditionally associated with the oil business. So difficult in fact that they may meet a natural limit in that the area simply doesn't have enough of the water needed for the process. So difficult in fact that nuclear power has been proposed as a solution for the energy needed for extraction. For those unfamiliar with the project(s) there is a Wikipedia article of the subject which also names all the present corporate players.

The environmental costs of the tar sands project are as large as the corporate scale. Many, from locals to people far away, have taken up opposition to the project. Here are three examples for those interested in reading further on the subject:

1)Oil Sands Watch

2)Oil Sands Truth

3)Tar Sands Time Out

This coming June 16 a coalition of organizations including the Council of Canadians, Sierra Club, Forest Ethics, Keepers of the Athabasca and Greenpeace will be on hand to demonstrate against a Oil and Gas Investment Symposium being held in Calgary Alberta by the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. Here is the announcement from the Council of Canadians. It should be understood that Molly doesn't agree with the overall politics of the CoC, but their efforts in this cause are laudable.

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On June 16th a coalition of efforts, including the Sierra Club, Forest Ethics, Keepers of the Athabasca and Greenpeace will be hosting an activity in Calgary to draw attention to the devastation from the Tar Sands for the environment and downstream communities.

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Rally Against the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers -
Investors in the Destructive and Toxic Tar Sands!
Environmental and Human Rights Abuses Ignored While Profits Soar
Hey folks!
As Alberta quickly gains an international reputation as a climate criminal, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is holding an Oil and Gas Investment Symposium in Calgary from June 16-18.

PLEASE JOIN US on June 16, 2008, at 11am in front of the Hyatt Calgary

The event will bring together over 85 companies and 375 investors from Canada, the USA, and around the world - many of these folks being active and big funders in the Tar Sands, with others looking to expand into that market. This year, a bunch of different groups are looking to send them a clear message: Don't Invest in the Toxic Tar Sands!!!

While people living in communities downstream from tar sands developments continue to experience devastatingly high rates of rare cancers, while Alberta's lands and waters are contaminated with cancer-causing toxins and are transformed from pristine Boreal forest into what former Alberta Premier Lougheed refers to as a "moonscape," investors in the industry and corporations continue to make record profits.

Just weeks after 500 ducks died landing on a toxic tailings pond in Alberta's tar sands region, and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach announced his government's intention to launch a $25 million advertising campaign to depict Alberta as an "Environmentally-friendly" province to the rest of the world, investors in the most destructive project on Earth are gathering to promote their interests and ensure the tar sands continue to expand, at the expense of the environment and the health of downstream communities!

We want these companies and investors, as well as the public to know that when you invest in the tar sands, you are investing in one of the dirtiest and deadliest energy projects in the world, as well as promoting human rights abuses and environmental destruction. And we want them to know that there will be no more business as usual when it comes to the tar sands, as Canadians mobilize to stand in solidarity with downstream communities to say No New Approvals and demand action and justice now when it comes to the critical issues of community health, the environment, and the water.

PLEASE JOIN US on June 16, 2008, at 11am in front of the Hyatt Calgary (Steven's Avenue entrance) and stand with us as we send a message to investors in the tar sands that their money is NOT safe, and is funding massive environmental and human rights violations!
Sheila Muxlow
Prairie Organizer
Council of Canadians
#34 - 9912, 106 Street
Edmonton, AB T5K 1C5
Toll Free 1.877.729.4500
Office Phone 780.429.4500
Fax 780.429.4501
Mobile Phone 780.233.2528

Washing one's hands of the conflict between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral. ~Paulo Freire