Standing in the rain in downtown Montreal, Kukpi7 (cap) Judy Wilson raises her fist in front of a Royal Bank of Canada branch. Wilson’s gesture goes largely unnoticed by shoppers rushing by, but his efforts to hold banks accountable for financing fossil fuels have certainly caught the attention of Canadian regulators.
Wilson, based in south-central British Columbia, is the chief of the Skat’sin te Secwepemc-Neskonlith Indian Band and the secretary-treasurer of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs (UBCIC).
It is also one of six applicants who filed a complaint with Canada’s Competition Bureau, accusing RBC of greenwashing, prompting the regulator to open an investigation into whether Canada’s largest bank misled customers about their climate action.
“It’s time to be honest,” said Wilson, who spoke to CBC News while in Montreal for a meeting.
“[Climate change] it’s real, it’s here and we have to deal with it.”
Wilson says there is no time to waste in reducing emissions, as indigenous people are disproportionately affected by climate change. (Jaela Bernstien/CBC)
The complaints, filed with the help of environmental law non-profit Ecojustice, suggest the bank has been marketing itself as aligned with the climate goals of the Paris Agreement, while continuing to finance the fossil fuel industry.
It’s not the first time RBC has been called out for its support of the oil and gas sector.
A separate report published this year by a group of environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Indigenous Environmental Network, ranked RBC fifth globally among the major banks that finance the fossil fuel industry.
But in marketing materialsRBC says it is “fully committed” to supporting the drastic reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
“RBC’s claims and actual action don’t add up,” said Matt Hulse, the Ecojustice attorney who helped draft and file the complaint with the Competition Bureau.
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RBC says the complaint is unfounded
In response to the Competition Bureau’s investigation, the bank denied misleading customers.
“RBC strongly disagrees with the allegations in the complaint and believes the complaint is unfounded and not in line with Canada’s climate plan,” RBC spokesman Andrew Block said in an email.
“It is very important that we achieve the transition to net zero to tackle climate change and we have taken a measured, thoughtful and deliberate approach to our climate strategy.”
RBC has said in the past that its transition to net zero must be gradual to succeed.
A Royal Bank of Canada logo is seen on Bay Street in the heart of Toronto’s financial district on January 22, 2015. The bank has been accused of misrepresenting its climate actions. (Mark Blinch/Reuters)
Time is a luxury Wilson doesn’t have, as his community is already experiencing the impacts of climate change.
“A lot of our people still hunt and fish and harvest on the land … so they can see firsthand what climate change is doing. Rivers are low, warmer. Forests are dry,” he said.
“With fossil fuels destroying the climate and climate change disproportionately affecting indigenous peoples around the world, including in Canada, we need to make the right decision.”
Sending a message to the industry
Corporate liability through the Competition Bureau has worked in the past. At the beginning of this year, Keurig Canada was ordered to pay a $3 million fine for falsely claiming that its disposable K-Cup pods are recyclable.
An investigation could take more than a year, but environmental advocates hope that if they are successful, other banks will take note.
“RBC is a market leader. What they do, other banks follow, especially in Canada,” Hulse said. “We thought that going after the biggest, if our complaint is upheld, would send a message to the whole industry.”
Dror Etzion, a professor specializing in sustainability at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, said it has become popular for banks to project an image of sustainable finance.
“The key is really, how serious and honest is self-reporting on these issues?” Etzion said.
Dror Etzion, a professor at McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management, said the result of the RBC research may be that banks are more careful in their wording. (Submitted by Dror Etzion)
He said regulators can play an important role in holding companies accountable for climate pledges, rather than leaving it up to individuals.
“It’s very difficult for consumers to do that, and it also creates a bit of guilt for us as individuals to try to force companies to change their behavior.”
While the bureau’s findings could create ripple effects within the broader financial sector, Etzion said they may not lead to the kind of outcome environmentalists hope for.
“It wouldn’t be good if the result was that the legal teams and these banks were more careful in how they expressed themselves,” Etzion said.
“What would be very good is for the policies and strategies underlying the activities of these banks to change in a significant way.”
Wilson, left, hugs his grandson, Quinn, in the Okanagan after a clearing ceremony. Wilson said her children and grandchildren are the reason she is pushing for climate action. (Submitted by Judy Wilson)
Wilson hopes it will be the last, but regardless of the outcome he said he will continue to push for climate action.
“There’s going to be continued pressure like this, people aren’t just going to give up,” he said.
Fighting for the next generation
Wilson, who will attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Egypt next month, said he has learned that the problems must be tackled comprehensively.
Political, legal and technical: it was the three-pronged approach he learned from his late uncle George Manuel, an internationally renowned indigenous activist and founder of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples.
Wilson said he now adds the spiritual and the international as important components to that formula.
“What we’re doing is important not just for the planetary crisis, it’s for the well-being of our children and our grandchildren,” he said.
“I will do my best to keep my children and my grandson well, so they can survive. That’s what our ancestors did, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.”