By Samantha Wright Allen, Ottawa Citizen, July 3, 2014
Ben Powless spent the last number of years working with indigenous communities
in western Canada in opposition to Northern Gateway. Powless, who is Mohawk,
never dreamed he’d be fighting against a pipeline in his traditional territory
or in his hometown in Ottawa. Now he’s paired up with Ecology Ottawa as a
community organizer to push against TransCanada PipeLines Ltd.’s Energy East oil
pipeline project. Powless said public opposition and political pressure is a
large reason that the pipeline stalled in B.C. With a little work, he said, “we
should be able to do that in Ottawa as well.” So, Powless has been planning
events, knocking on doors and on Thursday night, he organized a public
information session in the Kitchissippi ward, an area he said will be up for
grabs in October’s municipal election. Part of their ongoing advocacy will be to
push candidates to voice where they sit on the issue.“We need to get a critical
mass of councillors against this pipeline,” said Powless, adding the city should
pay for a risk assessment that could be presented to the National Energy Board
which will review the proposal once submitted. via
Ecology Ottawa organizes info session against Energy East pipeline | Ottawa
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