Burnaby residents concerned about the Kinder Morgan pipeline need to see beyond their backyards and support the indigenous communities impacted by tar sands development.
That's the message from Burnaby's Harjap Grewal, a Council of Canadians staff member, who's about to embark on a journey to Fort McMurray to see the tar sands firsthand.
"If you are in that area, it's quite devastating," said Grewal. "It's quite shocking when you're walking down that area (of highway). Both sides are basically a desert, and it used to be boreal forest."
Grewal, who's been to the site before, is taking another trip with a group of Lower Mainland residents to join the July 6 Healing Walk, an annual march organized by First Nations against environmental destruction caused by the tar sands.
This year's Healing Walk is expected to draw climate change activist Bill McKibben, author Naomi Klein, actress and environmental activist Tantoo Cardinal and public speaker Wab Kinew.
The Council of Canadians is footing the bill for a caravan to take roughly a dozen people, including Grewal, to Fort McMurray, Alta., for the Healing Walk.
For more information on the walk, go to www.healing walk.org. jmoreau@burnabynow. com
