Solidarity Rally for Indigenous Delegates attending RBC’s AGM

RBC has the ability to lead but instead is doubling down on harming the planet and shareholders, focusing on short-term profits at the expense of our collective future, all while running away from accountability by moving its 2023 AGM to Saskatoon, far away from Bay Street and the country’s media. RBC is destroying our collective future in the name of short-term profits, on the backs of human rights and Indigenous sovereignty. If the government won’t stand up to RBC and the reckless direction it continues to go down, we will.

There will be an eight person Wet’suwet’en delegation including two Hereditary Chiefs, elders and youth in Saskatoon for the AGM, speaking to the impacts of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline and Indigenous sovereignty. They will be joined by Indigenous delegates including the Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) which has a Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) resolution being heard in the AGM, Vanessa Gray, the Divestment Campaign Coordinator with Indigenous Climate Action, and Indigenous water and land protectors across so-called Canada. The delegation is in Saskatoon to stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en delegation and their demands of RBC, and asking the critical question, ‘who is financing the destruction of our land?’ 

The organizing involves local Indigenous people and members of Climate Justice Saskatoon, with the support of grassroots groups, NGOs, and Indigenous partners across the country involved in a campaign calling on RBC to stop financing the expansion of fossil fuels, phase out fossil fuel financing, and stop financing projects like the Coastal Gaslink pipeline that do not have Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). 

Schedule of Events (some details may change last minute):

April 5: 

9:00am Meet at the part near the hotel. Dancers, singers, drummers to drum members of the Indigenous and climate delegation with proxies to the door of the hotel to register and attend the AGM.  

9:30am RBC AGM begins in the Adam Ballroom at the Delta Bessborough Hotel (expected to last 2 hours).

11:00am Start of the rally near the Bessborough in front of double decker bus (expected to last two hours)

11:15/11:30am Rally moves towards the front of the hotel to greet and hear a report back from members of the Indigenous and climate delegation that participated in the AGM. There will be statements shared as well as dance, singing and drumming.

1:30-2:00pm Press conference, Club Lounge, Delta Bessborough Hotel