Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Huron-Wendat – This week, an international delegation of environmental and Indigenous groups will be attending the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, to call on Canada and the United States to shut down the Line 5 pipeline.
This visit follows a submission made last week to the United Nations by Anishinaabeg leaders from 51 Tribal Nations and First Nations across the Great Lakes, which rebuked Canada’s government for protecting Line 5 – a 70-year-old pipeline that crosses through the heart of the Great Lake, the world’s largest surface fresh water system. Line 5 has already leaked at least 33 times and spilled over 4.5 million litres of water since being built.
In the report submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Indigenous leaders called upon Canada to live up to its international human rights obligations and climate commitments by ending its active efforts to keep Line 5 open in defiance of a shutdown order by the State of Michigan. There is an ongoing legal case in Wisconsin by the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewas to have the pipeline removed from their territory.
WHAT: Interviews with Environmental Defence expert Michelle Woodhouse, President Whitney Gravelle of the Bay Mills Indian Community and Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe of the Anishinabek Nation, during the 22nd United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) themed: “Indigenous Peoples, human health, planetary and territorial health and climate change: a rights-based approach.”
WHO: Michelle Woodhouse, Water Program Manager, Environmental Defence, President Whitney Gravelle of the Bay Mills Indian Community and Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe of the Anishinabek Nation
WHERE: By telephone or video link from New York City.
WHEN: April 19 – 20, 2023.
ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Paula Gray, Communications Manager, Environmental Defence, pgray@environmentaldefence.ca, 705-435-8611
Laura Mayer, Senior Political Advisor, Anishinabek Nation, laura.mayer@anishinabek.ca, (705) 261-0613
Whitney Gravelle, President, Bay Mills Indian Community, wgravelle@baymills.org, +1 (906) 440-7651
