Join us on Saturday, April 12, rain or shine, as we walk, float and rally against the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion. 

Burnaby Residents Opposing the Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion (BROKE) is organizing a People's Procession & Rally on Saturday, April 12th to raise community awareness and voice opposition to Kinder Morgan’s plan to build a new pipeline to carry crude bitumen at extremely high pressure from the Alberta tar sands to Burrard Inlet. We are concerned about the many effects this could have: the disregard for First Nations rights, the erosion of democracy, the increase in oil tanker traffic, the increased size of the tank farm on Burnaby Mountain, the effect on health and safety in Burnaby and elsewhere, and the impact on our watersheds, air quality and climate change!

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Our message is simple... THE PIPELINE ENDS HERE!

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The People’s Procession will follow the existing and proposed oil and gas pipelines, "mapping" them as they cut across the City of Burnaby. It will begin at 10:00am with an opening ceremony in Forest Grove Park. The walkers will follow the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline route heading west, stopping briefly for a rest in Squint Lake Park, before winding its way north to where a large rally will take place at 1:00pm in Westridge Park. The rally will feature music, speakers, poetry, comedy and more. From there the procession will conclude it's journey to Westridge Marine Terminal, the end of the line for tar sands shipments before they are put on tankers and sent abroad, where a "flotilla" of boats, canoes and kayaks organized by North Shore NOPE will be visible on the Burrard Inlet.

This is a family-friendly event, with activities, speakers, artists and refreshments. Everyone is welcome! 

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How can you be involved?

WALK WITH US!
There are three points where you can join the procession: 
• 10:00-10:30am * Forest Grove Park
• 12:00-12:30pm * Squint Lake Park
• 2:30-3:30pm * Walk from Westridge Park to Kinder Morgan Marine Terminal
• You are encouraged to bring good walking shoes, snacks and plenty of water!

RALLY WITH US!
• 1:00-2:30pm * Westridge Park * Join us for speakers, music and refreshments.

FLOAT WITH NS NOPE!
• Please see details below

We encourage creative and fun expression! We also encourage you to organize your own group of friends or neighbors who share a common interest or passion and find a creative way to show it during the day's events. Whether you're an artist, a teacher, a parent, a student, an animal lover, a kayaker, a member of a church, a golfer, a farmer, a librarian, a yogi, a construction worker, a hockey fan or a scientist, you probably know some people who care about their home and have a creative way to show it. Come as you are and bring some friends!

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Event Partners:
• The Sacred Trust initiative of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation (http://twnsacredtrust.ca/)
• Burnaby Residents Opposing Kinder Morgan Expansion (BROKE) 
• North Shore NOPE : No Pipeline Expansion 
• Wilderness Committee
• VTACC - Voters on Climate Change (www.vtacc.org)
• Forest Ethics Advocacy (www.forestethics.org)
• Sustainable SFU (www.sustainablesfu.org, www.ancientforestalliance.org/)
• Vancouver Ecosocialist Group http://www.ecosocialistsvancouver.org
• Vancouver Folk Song Society
• Pacific Wild Alliance (https://pacificwild.org/)
• BCEN - BC Environmental Network (www.ecobc.org)
• FORPA - Forest Protection Allies Association 
• Council of Canadians; Vancouver- Burnaby Chapter and British Columbia & Yukon Regional Office
• Sierra Club BC (http://www.sierraclub.bc.ca/)

Confirmed Speakers:
Carleen Thomas - The Sacred Trust initiative of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Shamentsut Slhanay - Greenpeace / Squamish First Nation
Kennedy Stewart MP
Forest Ethics Advocacy
Wilderness Committee
Stephen Collis - Poet / Rising Tide

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This event will be held on the traditional and unceded Coast Salish territories.
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TRANSPORTATION:
There is limited parking at all of our locations. ***We strongly encourage you to take public transportation to any and all of these events!***

ACCESSIBILITY:

The Procession is 6km long in total with two stops along the way. Most of our walk is on smooth paved road, but some of the walk is on wide gravel road. There are a few mild inclines, in particular between Forest Grove and Squint Lake and on the final loop from Westridge Park. We encourage people with limited mobility to join us for our rally at Westridge Park, but all are welcome.

Restrooms at Forest Grove Park and Squint Lake are fully accessible; the porto-potties at Westridge Park may not be.

PLEASE let us know if you have any accessibility requirements that we can meet to make this event accessible to you.

Kinder Morgan has applied to build a new pipeline to carry diluted bitumen from Alberta’s tar sands to Burnaby for export to Asia and elsewhere. The increased capacity will be from 300,000 barrels to 890,000 barrels per day. Westridge Marine Terminal will be expanded to three berths. This will result in over 400 tankers per year in Burrard Inlet- eight times more than current tanker traffic.

North Shore NOPE, No Oil Pipeline Expansion http://NSNOPE.org/, will be partnering with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation Sacred Trust Initiative,http://twnsacredtrust.ca/, to raise awareness about the environmental, economic, health and safety risks of the proposed increased tanker traffic in Burrard Inlet. A tanker spill will be devastating to our community. Recent government studies have shown that our current emergency response is inadequate, and that the clean up of the diluted bitumen could be limited to 5-15% of the total spill.

Burnaby Residents Opposing the Kinder Morgan Pipeline Expansion (BROKE) www.BurnabyPipelineWatch.ca have organized the People’s Procession and Rally against the Pipelines. They will walk along the proposed pipeline route and gather for a rally at Westridge Park. Our Floatilla will 'meet' the People’s Procession at the foot of Cliff Ave.

Bring your friends to the Floatilla and share the event on Facebook and other social media:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1447662515470083/permalink/1449951988574469/

Floatilla Schedule 

SATURDAY, APRIL 12th, 2014

2:00pm Those with canoes and kayaks will gather at Whey-ah-Whichen (Cates Park) boat launch

2:30pm Tsleil Waututh Nation ocean going canoes will launch and will lead all the canoes and kayaks paddling towards Westridge Terminal.

2:00 pm All other boats meet in the area at the foot of Cliff Ave. near Westridge Terminal.

3:00pm Boaters in the flotilla can watch and greet the People's Procession as they walk down Cliff Ave.

3:15pm Welcome ceremony by a Representative of Tsleil Waututh First Nation

3:30pm Speakers on the Floatilla lead boat will talk about the pipeline, the tankers, & the risks involved.

* If you’d like to rent a canoe or kayak on the 12th, Deep Cove Kayak and Canoe is offering 50% off rentals for Flotilla participants:www.deepcovekayak.com

** All boaters must follow Transport Canada Safe Boating Regulations

BROKE's NEWS RELEASE

THE PEOPLE'S PROCESSION & RALLY AGAINST THE PIPELINES

    The People's Procession will begin at 10:00am with an opening ceremony in Forest Grove Park. The walkers will follow the existing Kinder Morgan pipeline route heading west, stopping briefly for a rest in Squint Lake Park, before winding its way north to where a large rally will take place at 1:00pm in Westridge Park. The rally will feature music, speakers (including Burnaby MP Kennedy Stewart), poetry, comedy and more. From there the procession will conclude it's journey to Westridge Marine Terminal, the end of the line for tar sands shipments before they are put on tankers and sent abroad, where a "flotilla" of boats, canoes and kayaks organized by North Shore NOPE will be visible on the Burrard Inlet.

    BROKE is a community organization who, since 2012, has been rallying Burnaby residents, organizing town halls, preparing educational material and hosting events such as the commemoration of 2007's Kinder Morgan oil spill in Westridge. Since the fall of 2013, Gabriel Saloman has been conducting a series of workshops along with members of BROKE designed to create a "People's Map" of the oil and gas infrastructure that runs throughout the urban and residential areas of Burnaby. These workshops are culminating in April 12th's People's Procession & Rally which will bring visibility to the spaces through which the existing and proposed pipelines travel, which include residential neighborhoods, schools, parks and other community facilities.

    The pipeline, expansion of oil tanks on Burnaby Mountain, and increased tanker traffic through Burrard Inlet pose major risks.

    Kinder Morgan presently ships 300,000 barrels of oil per day through its Trans Mountain Pipeline, which was built in the 1950s. The planned expansion would increase shipments to at least 890,000 barrels of crude oil and require construction of a new pipeline through residential neighborhoods, next to schools, near vulnerable salmon-bearing rivers and streams and protected conservation areas in Burnaby. Kinder Morgan’s proposal calls for dramatic expansion of storage tank capacity on Burnaby Mountain from 1.6 million barrels to 5.5 million barrels. The tar sands crude would then be loaded and shipped by huge tankers passing through 2nd Narrows, Georgia Straight, and the Salish Sea for export mostly to China. The plan also calls for expansion of the Westridge terminal dock from one berth to three capable of handling Afromax tankers with an average capacity of 750,000 barrels.

    The shipment of bitumen, increases the risk of a catastrophic pipeline failure. Because of its viscosity, bitumen must be diluted by the addition of corrosive, noxious and carcinogenic chemicals plus high heat. This dramatically increases the risk of pipeline failure above and beyond the effects of lighter oils that have traditionally been shipped through the TransMountain pipeline. Bitumen also poses a special problem for cleanup after a pipeline, tank, or tanker accident because it sinks and cannot be cleaned from the land, rivers or ocean floor.

    BROKE invites everyone who is concerned with the effects of the pipelines, tar sands and tankers to come out and join the People's Procession & Rally. Creative expression, art, music and performance are especially welcome.

Events and Times:

Saturday April 12, 2014

10:00am : Forest Grove Park, Burnaby

12:00pm : Sqint Lake Park, Burnaby

1:00pm: Westridge Park, Burnaby

For more information:

www:               burnabypipelinewatch.com

facebook:         www.facebook.com/BurnabyPipelineWatch

twitter:             @nopipelines

media email:    Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte; mariane.bl@gmail.com