By: Pranjali J Mann, News Writer
On the morning of June 13, SFU health sciences professor Tim Takaro was presented before the Supreme Court pertaining to his violation of the injunction zone around the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX) project worksites. The injunction zone is a five metre perimeter around the TMX construction site made by the BC Supreme Court to prohibit protestors from impeding construction.
Previously, Takaro had climbed a tree at the TMX construction site in Burnaby. He occupied a tent around “100 feet up in a tree inside a Trans Mountain worksite [ . . . ] for three days before being arrested,” according to Burnaby Now.
Dr. Kate Tairyan, SFU director of undergraduate programs for health sciences, expressed her disappointment at Takaro’s sentence.“This is not the right way to use public resources and public money. Jailing people who are warning us about the impact of climate change and global heating [ . . . ] as criminals is of course painful to see and witness,” she said in an interview with The Peak.
The construction of the TMX pipeline has climate activists concerned. “There is no absence of evidence that fossil fuel projects, especially expansion and proliferation of those projects, is harmful,” said Tairyan. “British Columbians know [ . . . ] that this project is going to hurt them, it’s going to harm them.”
The Peak attended a protest that occured on the day of Takaro’s sentencing. The first speaker was Ruth Walmsley, a member of the Brunette River Six who said, “The Coast Salish people do not give their consent for this project.” On Takaro’s protest, Walmsley added, “I think he’s a hero, not a criminal [for] stopping new energy projects when governments fail to act to protect us from climate disaster.”
The next speaker was Dr. Linda Thyer from Doctors for Planetary Health. Thyer said Takaro, during his professional and academic career, researched air pollution in connection with burning of fossil fuels. She noted inhalation of dangerous gasses can “prematurely kill over 15,000 Canadians every year.” Dr. Shannon Waters, member of Stz’uminus First Nation and physician said, “Our ecosystems are our healthcare system. We must move away from our harmful and destructive practices and behaviors, to ones which will allow life to flourish.”
Tsleil-Waututh land defender Will George addressed the gatherers by thanking them for their solidarity, efforts, and presence. George was also previously jailed for violating the TMX injunction in May this year and is currently out on bail. “I don’t belong in that place [ . . . ] we don’t belong in there, we are not criminals.”
SFU psychology professor Michael Schmidt explained both the SFU Faculty Association and Simon Fraser Student Society have opposed TMX. He said, “If the students say no, and the faculty say no, then I think it’s fair to claim that SFU says no to TMX!” He was also concerned about the risk to the SFU community from a “fire in the tank farm that would trap us on the mountain with no escape route.” He noted, “We are also concerned, many of us even more concerned, about the climate consequences of this pipeline and what it means for young people, our children, and our grandchildren.” He added people should be cutting back on fossil fuels, investing into renewable energy, and “providing generous support to individuals and communities who might be economically affected” by this transition.
Lastly, a member of the Youth Stop TMX initiative highlighted the need to increase education among youth regarding TMX this summer. Expressing concern on the expansion, they said, “I can’t even begin to fathom what the future is going to look like. It’s terrifying. But it’s not terrifying to the point that we sit down because that’s what they want us to do. We have to power through that fear and still continue to stand up and mobilize for us and for our children.”
On June 15, Takaro was sentenced to 30 days in jail for criminal contempt, after pleading guilty on June 13 before the court. The judge said their harsh judgment was to deter others from ignoring court orders.
On the arrest, Tairyan said, “Canada is not going to maintain its reputation as a leading nation if it continues supporting this project.” She added, “Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects, fracking, and anything that extracts fossil fuels is already proven by science that it is going to hurt and harm individuals, communities, livelihoods and our future and our planetary health, our health, public health, and planetary health.”
LNG projects involve turning raw natural gas into a liquid form by cooling it, whereas fracking involves drilling deep into the earth to release the natural gas from the ground.
On the Trans Mountain website, their statement on environment notes “extensive work has determined environmental impacts and mitigation measures to reduce those impacts. Our goal is to protect the environment, have as little impact as possible and, where we do have an impact, ensure we return the land to a similar function. Ultimately, we can’t put the land back exactly the way it was.” Critics of the pipeline cite additional issues such as oil spills, toxic fumes, fires, and carbon pollution.
Tairyan continued, “If we mess up [the environment] our children are not going and our grandchildren are not going to be able to have a livable planet.”
