Michael Fortier, former Conservative minister and current head of the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), was reportedly the target of vandals overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday. Two vehicles were reportedly set on fire at his Montreal home by activists opposed to the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia, which RBC is partly funding.
Posted at 9:00 a.m.
Joined by The Press Friday, Mr. Fortier did not wish to comment immediately.
The Montreal Police Department confirms that a fire affecting two vehicles in an entrance on Chester Avenue, in Mont-Royal, broke out around 2 a.m. Wednesday morning. “For the moment, nothing suspicious has been found, but it was still sent to be appraised because it is difficult to understand why the fires would have started,” said publicist Raphaël Bergeron.
The images from surveillance cameras on site will also be viewed by the investigators, according to agent Bergeron.
Militant act
The anonymous authors of a text published on the Montreal Counter-information site, which publishes “anarchist and anti-authoritarian news and analysis”, claim the gesture.
“That night, flames from an incendiary device spread to the engine block of his Jaguar parked outside his home,” it read. “This act is in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders and all extractive industry fighters. »
Royal Bank is funding Coastal GasLink pipeline construction to the tune of US$345.52 million, report says Banking on Climate Chaos 2022, produced by a coalition of environmental organizations. It is also the largest funder of the fossil fuel industry in Canada, according to this report.
Not an isolated event
Many other acts of vandalism have been committed against RBC facilities in Montreal in recent months. Activists against Coastal GasLink also claimed such acts in the offices of the banking institution at Place Ville Marie in another text published in April on the Montreal Counter-information site.
A former federal Conservative cabinet minister, Michael Fortier joined Royal Bank in 2010 as vice-chairman of its brokerage division, RBC Capital Markets.
Invited to react, Amnesty International indicated by email that it was against “against all violence, whether towards people or towards places such as homes”. The organization has repeatedly called for the construction of the pipeline to be suspended, citing violations of indigenous rights to the land.
“We encourage freedom of expression and we believe that the debate on climate justice is important and must continue, but in a peaceful way”, added Amnesty, underlining that “Canadian banks directly and indirectly support projects [pour lesquels] the free and informed consent of the indigenous communities has not been obtained”.
RBC did not respond to questions from The Press at the time of publishing this text.
The pipeline has been the focus of numerous protests, as Coastal GasLink won an injunction against blockages and Wet’suwet’en Nation hereditary chiefs sent the company notice of eviction from their territory, in northern British Columbia.
In February 2020, First Nations people and supporters across the country blocked railroads and highways in solidarity with hereditary chiefs.
Construction of the 670 kilometer pipeline began in 2019 and is expected to be completed next year.
With The Canadian Press