FOE Canada statement on anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism
Friends of the Earth Canada expresses its grief and outrage over the police-state violence that claimed the lives of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, Chantel Moore, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and others.
It understands their deaths were a result of entrenched white supremacy in a society that polices, criminalizes, and systematically murders Black and Indigenous peoples. In the wake of recent protests, FOE Canada stands in solidarity with those committing to end police brutality, and echoes the calls of Black and Indigenous-led abolition groups and of Friends of the Earth International to defund police.
Around the world and in Canada, Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities are hardest hit by the climate crisis. Studies have shown that heavily polluting industries tend to be located close to Black and Indigenous communities, where they affect air and water quality. Earlier this year, RCMP officers in northern B.C. invaded land defenders’ camps to ensure that Coastal GasLink could resume work on a pipeline in the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en nation, in violation of Wet’suwet’en laws and title.
As a group that advocates for the rights of all Canadians to a healthy environment, we understand that the issues we address are inseparable from rising social and economic inequality and their roots in racism and colonialism. Moving forward, we will reflect on how, as a majority white and non-Black organization, our advocacy work can centre the voices of—and take the lead from—the Black and Indigenous organizers working to dismantle white supremacy and fight for climate justice.
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