“Living Green”: An interview with Susan Holvenstot

Susan Holvenstot, Green Party supporter  As part of a series of “Living Green” interviews with local Green Party supporters, I had the pleasure of interviewing Comox Valley resident Susan Holvenstot. Susan spent a month this past winter visiting indigenous occupation camps in Northwestern B.C., to prevent the use of these unceded lands for LNG and tarsand oil exports. In her answers below, you will find out how she demonstrated her Green Party values to become an ally of indigenous efforts to stop pipelines and tankers on our coast.   Q. Susan, thanks for taking the time to participate in this interview.  I heard you had a pretty interesting winter. What were you up to? A. I went to two different places in Northwest B.C., Unist’ot’en, near Houston and Lelu Island, next to Prince Rupert, where First Nations people are reclaiming their land. They are building and living in permanent camps in the line of proposed pipelines. I went to visit these two locations and help run the camps for a month during the winter. Q. What are the communities hoping to accomplish with these camps? A. Northern B.C. is awash with industrial development, much of which we aren’t even aware of in other parts of B.C. and Canada. There are dozens of proposals for pipelines and natural gas infrastructure all across Northwestern B.C.. Some of the pipelines are for tar sands oil, but others are for new infrastructure for Liquid Fracked Gas. The First Nations people are at the front lines of stopping this from happening. They have unceded ownership of the land, and are constructing and living in...

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