 Okay. Danse. Bonjour. As I mentioned a little bit earlier, my name is Clayton Thomas Mueller. I'm a Cree man from treaty six territory here in Manitoba, Canada. I'm also the stop it at the source campaigner with 350.org. And I'm going to be your MC tonight for the promise to protect mass movement meeting. And I want to thank you so much for being here. Tonight is a very historic opportunity for all of us to be a part of something so very important, something of intergenerational importance. Over 12,000 people from coast to coast to coast have signed up for the promise to protect. And tonight's call is going to feature a variety of speakers from all walks of life, including elected tribal leadership, grassroots leadership, the voice of our young people, our elders, who are going to talk to you about everything you need to know about the creative peaceful resistance that we hope to lift up in the months to come. Confronting the Trump transcona, sorry, trans Canada. Keystone Excel proposal that has come back again, many of us obviously having deja vu. So we're going to jump right into our speakers. I just want to say that, you know, I'm carrying this feather tonight. It was it was given to me by one of our most iconic indigenous leaders here in Canada. Her name is Ellen Gabriel. She was the leader of the, the, the OCA resistance here in Canada. And so I'm holding this feather tonight in a good way to speak to you all from my heart. And, you know, all of our panelists tonight are going to be speaking to you a good way from their hearts. And, you know, as the great leader once said, sitting bull, sitting bull, let's all put our hearts and minds together on this call and see what kind of future we can make for our children's children. So first off this evening, you know, let me just kind of go through a brief introduction of all of our speakers tonight. We've got an incredibly dynamic with Bill McKibbin, who is a well-known writer and founder of my organization, 350.org. We're extremely honored tonight to have chairman Fraser join us, who is, you know, the leader of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, which is directly affected by the Keystone XL pipeline route. So we have him joining us tonight. Faith Spotted Eagle is an incredibly dynamic leader who's been involved in the Keystone XL fight from the beginning, helping establish the spiritual encampments along the proposed right-of-way. We're so happy to have her here. She's a member of the Yankton Sioux tribe in southeastern South Dakota and part of the Braveheart Society. She's a grandmother with them, a leader. We're really happy to have her here. We have Louis Grassrope from the Wichoni-Oni-Tipi camp in the Lower Brule Sioux tribe joining us as well as Joseph White Eyes, who is a youth leader from the Standing Rock International Indigenous Youth Council, and also the Keep It in the Ground campaigner with the Indigenous Environmental Network, the United States' oldest Indigenous Environmental Justice Network. We're really pleased to have him here with us as well. And Judith LeBlanc, the director of the Native Organizers Alliance based in New York City from the Cato Nation in Oklahoma, she'll be speaking to us. And finally, least but not least, Ariel Derange, the co-founder and executive director of Indigenous Climate Action here in Canada. Canada's only Indigenous-led climate justice social movement organization. She comes from the Athabasca Chippewan First Nation in the heart of Canada's controversial tar sands development, where the Keystone XL pipeline stems from. We're going to open up first with Bill McKibbin. He's going to give us a lay of the land, kind of speak to us about what's going on. And so, you know, kind of the technical pieces that lead to that high-level perspective. So please join me in welcoming our 350 co-founder and noted author, Bill McKibbin. Clay, my brother, many, many thanks. It's good to be with you all. I'm the boring part of the evening's entertainment, so we'll get me out of the way quickly and move on to better things. Let me say, first of all, that we're all thinking of our brothers and sisters in California in particular today. Watching what's happening in Ventura and Los Angeles is a good reminder to everybody of some of the reasons that we're all in this fight. It's truly horrible. Just like it was truly horrible when Fort Mac was burning then, you know, on and on and on. Look, the lay of the land with KXL is, as always, murky and a little hard to understand precisely what's happening. The Nebraska authorities granted TransCanada a permit to put their pipeline through Nebraska, but they didn't grant them on a permit for the route that they wanted to go on. So everybody's a little unsure exactly what that means. They're really good people at Bold Nebraska and their lawyers and their farmers and ranchers and everybody who's been fighting for so long are figuring it out, talking with landowners, talking with state authorities. People are preparing to go to court if they have to, watching what's happening with TransCanada. And, you know, this has been an odds against fight from the day that it began. I suppose in some sense it's an odds against fight. Now, but it hasn't, I mean, so far, the odds have broken the right way. And we don't, I think, crucially know much about the timing of what's going to go on. And if TransCanada makes the silly decision to go ahead and build this thing when they might get around to building it and hence when we'd be needed to bear witness along the route. But we're assuming that we should do it, but be prepared to do it. And that's why it's so great that people from around the continent are saying we'll be there to bear witness when the time comes. The things that I would like to add are while we're here tonight to talk about that promise to protect, it's also worth remembering that while we're waiting for those moments to come, there are tons of things that we all can be doing on this pipeline and on the larger questions in general. And those include working hard to continue interrupting the financing for this project. There's many, many big banks that have been providing the financing that TransCanada needs. And people are increasingly on their case telling them not to. And you can join in that effort. As everyone knows, there are after the Keystone fight began, a thousand other pipeline fights and other things going on in local areas across America. Take the good spirit that you hear tonight across Canada and America to fight in those fights as well. Those are the things that we do as we try to prepare and they're not all defensive community after community. Indigenous communities and big cities are pledging to go 100% renewable, are putting up solar panels as fast as we can go. People are doing that amazing solar KXL work, putting up solar panels right along the route of the proposed pipeline. So that's where we are. The weight of people joining in this promise is a really important part of this battle. And it sends the signal not only that we're dead serious about Keystone XL, but also that we're dead serious about the larger issue of the tar sands and that people are completely understanding that it's not just this pipeline. It's the new tech frontier mine up in Alberta. It's all the developments going on in that huge patch of carbon. One of the seven or eight big deposits like that around the planet. We're working on them all, of course, but tonight and for the foreseeable future, this is the focus. Thank you all very, very, very much for being part of this effort. And thank you Bill for joining us this evening. If you have questions, please post those in the Q and A as part of the zoom application. Post them on Facebook live or in the group chat. And our, our, our, our 350 staffers will be trying to lift up some of these questions that are in duplicate as one. I'm going to take us forward here. You know, we're really honored tonight to have an elected leader join us on this panel. Chairman Fraser. We're really, really happy to have him here to speak to us. And the question that I have for you. You know, years ago, you know, I've been involved in the Keystone campaign fight since the beginning. You know, years ago, you know, I've been involved in the Keystone campaign fight since the beginning. You know, years ago when I worked for the indigenous environmental network, we started the first pipeline campaign against Keystone number one. We learned a lot of lessons about pipeline resistance in that campaign. And going into the Keystone Excel campaign, you know, one of the things that we identified was that the native rights based approach or the rights based approach was a very critical strategy and tactical framework. You know, in, in, in, you know, for our native people and asserting their territorial jurisdiction. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, the, those that have signed the promise to protect on the legal inherent rights of native peoples and the role of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in the fight to stop the Keystone Excel and its current proposal. Well, thanks, Clay. First of all, unfortunately, chairman Frazier is in council with a legislative session. They're running late into the evening trying to get a lot of work done. So he couldn't make it for this, for this session. However, he did wish to, he did ask me to express gratitude to 350 for putting this on. He also wanted to say to everybody that's signed up under the promise to protect that, that he and the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe are proud of everything they're going to do and, and have done up to this point as far as, as the Cheyenne River Sioux tribes commitment to, to defending our sovereignty, you know, as well as we do that, that we start, we started this from the beginning. KXL was scheduled to go, it's current permit is scheduled to pass closer to Cheyenne River Sioux tribe upstream on the Missouri, Cheyenne River closer than Dakota access across the Missouri River above Standing Rock. So it's, we've, we view it as a, as an absolutely perilous issue. And in, in that time that you talked about, it was a critical time for our, our tribal council to take action and, and denounce the pipelines and call for a resistance against it. We put down resolutions that clearly stated the Cheyenne River Sioux tribes position that not only do we not have, do we not want KXL, but we don't want any pipeline. We reaffirmed our commitment to a cleaner, greener the planet. And that we're going to continue to do so. Now, some of the things that we've done recently is, we've sent just yesterday about 10 letters to everybody in South Dakota's government from the governor, all of their elected politicians to include the commissioners of the utility commission here, asking for the utility commission to review the current permits that are in place in lieu of the spill that happened in Marshall County near the Cece Tuwan Wapitun Reservation. And further go on to create a, a moratorium on any additional permits for any other oil companies until a proper investigation has been done on that. Chairman Frazier has repeatedly voiced that we will do everything within the, the limits of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribes power to resist this pipeline. And there are things that people are doing every single day that the tribe has, has taken heed from. And that is things like the divest movement, the get involved in your, your politics, elect leaders at your level that, that are your level that, that understand the importance of this planet and, and everything that's on it. And, you know, we did the, we did the letters to our commissioners. We are currently undertaking steps to ensure that, that the pipeline doesn't cross tribal territory. And we, which that creates a big problem because we still have unfinished business. A lot of skeletons in the closet between the United States and indigenous nations. And one of those skeletons is our treaties. This land has not been taken care of. We, we, this land that the pipeline comes across is still treaty territory. And it hasn't been given up by any of the, of the nations here in the Dakotas, certainly not any of the great Sioux nations. And that's, that's something that we're going to have to start digging our heels in and using that as a sword and not a shield anymore. So that's one of our big pushes. And of course participating in organizations like 350.org. I am. They've got their, they've got their fingers on the pulse of what's happening here. And one of the credits that the chairman wants to give out is, is that these organizations are going to great extent to talk one on one with the tribes here, but especially shine river Sioux tribe and, and coming up with a good strategy to resist the pipeline by all the means that we have available. And on that note, again, on behalf of chairman Frazier and the shine over Sioux tribe, absolutely proud of everybody who signed up a promise to protect just like we have here on the shine over Sioux tribe. And we look forward to working with each and every single one of you in the days to come. Thank you. Thank you so much. I mean, you know, all of us are so appreciative of the incredible leadership, you know, coming from the Northern Cheyenne Sioux tribe and all of the indigenous nations along the route that are standing up and especially our grassroots peoples. We're going to move on to our next speaker who is one of the, one of the grassroots leaders from one of the encampments, the spiritual encampments along the, the, the route of way. Louis grass hope from the Wachoni on the TP camp. Who's also a member of the Lord Bruce Lord rule Sioux tribe. Say that three times fast. Take it away. Louis grass hope. Please share with us some of the good work that's happening at your camp. I'm from here from Wachoni TP. Basically a setup camp in reference to many of the issues that are going on. So, you know, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of KXL being an issue and also the many things that the Trump administration has. In. Has. On board are basically in the process of what they're trying to do to our respective nations here. There's a lot of many things and issues. And I think with the. A lot of it has to do with the treaty. So, we're trying to be able to do everything that's been done. So what we're doing here is basically trying to do the same thing as. What we did in standing rock or what they were wanting to do is basically. Build a self sustainable self sufficient community also in the process. Being able to come out and assist in any way we can to try to stop by many of the church's acts that are happening to. There's a lot of things going on, I think, and I want to say many of what belongs to the first nations up there who are standing on the first part of this trans-Canada. We Chouni-Unki people are very grateful for that. Also the many other relatives that are fighting every cause around the world, and I'm very grateful for that also. I think that much more of the other issues is trying to help our nations become one, along with every other ethnicity, and get past the diversities and everything in order to come together and help heal this nation, and especially our mother earth. The best way we can in standing in opposition of these big corporate giants and the government, it's kind of the craziest thing, but you know the government itself. So there's many issues that we at We Chouni-Unki people are doing, but the main factors that we're trying to get, we're getting situated for winter, and trying to get the camp situated the best we can, and we're very, very anxious and very honored to hear that many people have signed on to the promise to protect, especially since the KXL decision has come down in Nebraska. So we'll be left to all and we're here, you know, we're here in the cold, loving it. Alright, thanks. Oh, good to ask you, but now, good to ask you, but then, Louis, we really appreciate the good work that is happening there in your camp, and in all of the camps that are popping up all across our beautiful lands, to protect our land, water and climate in our people's future. I want to move us on, you know, to our next speaker, who is somebody that I've been really inspired by. I've been watching him for a while now. He represents, you know, that young population that is fighting to protect the sacred. He is a tribal member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, now living in the Lower Brule Reserve campaigner with Indigenous Environmental Network and member of the International Indigenous Youth Council coming out of the No Dapel movement. Just an incredible young man, Joseph White-Eyes. The question that I had for you is, young people, as you know, were the catalyst in the No Dapel movement. You know, you were a big part of that. What are the ways youth leadership are shaping the fight against the Keystone Excel? Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Getting them involved with the movement on many different levels from, you know, racism to bullying in school to, you know, involvement with the Keystone pipeline and how I started out my work was years and years before DAPL happened. But I'll start out with how the youth got involved with the Dakota access pipeline and how they brought the awareness that brought the unity from all over the world and caused this huge gathering of indigenous people from everywhere. So it started in early August by Jayce Lynn Charger and Danny Grasser. They were wanting to bring the youth together. So they formed a youth council and they called it the International Indigenous Youth Council. And during that time, you know, that's when there are people coming in and out of camp up in Standing Rock. And there were a lot of youth there that weren't, you know, doing too much or trying to figure out where they belonged in the movement. And Jayce Lynn Charger and Danny Grasser gave them that platform to do that. And so they started getting organized and their voices started raising our voices started raising. It was all grassroots work in the beginning. You know, that's some of the best type of work there is. And so where they come from, you know, that Standing Rock from three people sitting around a campfire, you know, from the evening time late into the dark. They, the International Indigenous Youth Council has now grown into seven chapters, you know, all over the United States and we're working with youth in Alaska. We have a chapter in Chicago all the way in the Four Corners area down to Texas and California. We've grown quite a lot. And yeah, we're just doing a lot of work, like I said, from, you know, racism to bullying in high school to suicide awareness to Keystone pipeline and to jump on that is how, how the youth can get involved with the Keystone pipeline. You know, just start, start learning your history of who you are your background, you know, find out who your elders were who your relatives are. Find out where you come from truly and when you can find that information, you know, you can find out where you belong in this world. And that's what a lot of the youth that, you know, are organizing and helping out that's what they had to figure out. And now they're all great leaders and, you know, same can happen for you, you guys can grow you guys can become something powerful you can become, you know, your own movement even. And one of the things that we did when we ran to Washington DC from the camp is, you know, we started talking. We started letting our voice, you know, it grew from here, and our voice started getting bigger and bigger and bigger and then we started sharing what we needed to share we started, you know, really letting our voice be heard. One of the things that we're doing is we're giving ourselves a seat at the table with a lot of the larger organizations so that our voice won't be silent anymore. You know, with the Lakota people and some other nations as well there's a seven generation prophecy and we are a part of that seven generation prophecy and you know we're taking it serious. We just feel that, you know, in any movement there needs to be a young, young person there, because they're the ones that can get straight to the point they're the ones that can bring that energy they're the ones that can get, you know, things to happen quickly, because we are the tech, we've grown up in an age where it's all technological and we can understand it quicker we know what we're doing. But one of the things is that we always see guidance from our elders and we never forget who's above us and who's below us and who stands right next to us so I think that's all I have to share and I'll just encourage you to. Well, those are wise words spoken by you this evening Joseph thank you so much for sharing that perspective. You know, during the, the, the, the no Dakota access pipeline moment you know in standing rock it was our young people as I mentioned young people like Joseph that really were the trailblazers but also our women. You know, our indigenous women have been, you know, leading on the ground struggle in all of our territories from Alaska to the Gulf of Mexico. In all of the fights for environmental justice against the encroachment of our fossil fuel infrastructure and one of those women is, is, is Judith LeBlanc. She's the director of the native organizers alliance based in New York City but comes from the Kato nation in Oklahoma, and I'm just so pleased to have Judith with us tonight I've met her in the past and have always been in deep admiration of her incredible leadership in our social movement for colonization justice. So Judith, the question that I have for you tonight on the call that I'm hoping you can go into is we don't know if or when folks will need to come to the pipeline of the proposed kxl route to resist this project. What are the things people can be doing right now to stop. Well, thank you clay. I am very happy to be on this call. I am the director of the native organizers lines and I am a citizen of the Kato nation, and I have a Boston accent. So I'm also learning a great deal of Lakota due to the work in North Dakota and South Dakota and my big goal is to learn enough Lakota to know when people are talking about me. So I've been very, very honored to have been invited by the no kxl leaders native leaders and non native ranchers and farmers to come to South Dakota and help support the organizing against kxl and for tribal sovereignty. And there are many lessons that we learned at standing rock. And one of those lessons is that solidarity deep solidarity from between natives grassroots leaders and tribes and with and by our non native allies requires that we are really driven by love and compassion and discipline. And standing rock taught us a great deal about what it means to be a good relative. And what it means is that when invited to a people's territory that you need to respect and follow the protocols of that territory, and that the leadership on the ground. The moccasins on the ground are the other leaders who will and can and are the best to direct the kind of solidarity that is needed. Many of us understand that at standing rock we interrupted the narrative about native peoples. We interrupted a narrative that also showed that we were willing to do what was necessary to not only protect the water and drink and water for this and drinking water for the standing rock Sioux tribe. And the sacred sites but we are also willing to do what it took to protect the water, the 17 million people who live and love and play along the shores of the Missouri River. The same is true about the KXL fight and it is a wonderful thing and I thank Bill and 350.org for initiating the promise to protect the sacred and calling upon allies globally to stand with the leadership on the ground in Nebraska and South Dakota. But the key is that we will never have another standing rock. Standing rock was a moment and in this moment we need to find a way to show the deep and very local and very grassroots opposition to this pipeline. And so the idea of when called upon to come to Nebraska and South Dakota, it means to come under the direction and the leadership of ranchers, farmers and the tribal leaders and grassroots leaders of those territories. And it means to come in love and discipline and with training and understanding that we have to follow the protocols on the ground. One of the things that's been discussed by the leadership on the ground in South Dakota is that we want to be able to show in very vivid ways how widespread the opposition is to the KXL pipeline. And how can we do that? Well, all along the pipeline, there will be opportunities for us to show on the ground that there are people who oppose and that they are strongly supported. So when the call is made, if the call is made to come to South Dakota and Nebraska, it will be in an organized way. You will have a way to plug in to the initiatives. You will understand what your role will be because that's the other lesson we learned at Standing Rock. Everyone has a role. The Caddo tribe are teaching that everyone has a role, but it will change. It will always change depending on the situation. And so we are very proud the Native Organizers Alliance, which is an organizing and training network to mobilize to be in support of the leadership on the ground, but to also bring with us the idea that solidarity has to be disciplined. It has to be driven by love and compassion, and that only together can we win. So many of the ideas that will be generated at the local level for actions and ways to plug in are best spoken by the folks on the ground. So I'm hoping that Faith, Spotted Eagle, and others will be able to speak about the tremendous meeting that was called together last week where over 100,000 watched the live stream of the meeting in South Dakota where we signed a treaty to protect the sacred and began to map out for each tribal leadership, grassroots leaders, tribal historic preservation offices, youth, women, what our role should be in protecting the sacred as the struggle goes on. Thank you. Man, I, I love your, your, your cattle background and that Boston accent so smooth, Judith. Relatives, you know, Faith Spotted Eagle, we've had some technical difficulties with her, but I just want to say, we're trying to get her back on here. You know, because Faith has played an incredible role in the early work in the quiescent excel fight setting up the spiritual encampments under the heading protect the sacred. And as Judith mentioned, you know, was a big part behind the treaty signing for the protection of the sacred that which just happened recently in collaboration with the treaty Alliance against the Tarsans. So we're working on getting her on here to speak but in the meantime, I wanted to introduce, you know, from northern Alberta. One of my one of my best friends in the whole world and just such an incredibly dynamic and inspiring organizer campaigner and now executive director of indigenous climate action. Canada's only indigenous led climate justice social movement organization, Ariel Derange, who comes from the Athabasca chip one first nation in northern Alberta's Tarsans. Her community is about 150 miles downstream on the Athabasca river from Canada's Tarsans and her work focuses on raising awareness about the importance of including the rights of indigenous communities in addressing the global climate crisis so the question that I have for you Ariel is, how does this keystone excel fight connect back to the work that's being done here in Canada to stop the Canadian Tarsans at the source. My name is Clayton. My name is Ariel, I'm a member of the Athabasca chip one first nation. My name thunder, my name is DNA name I always like to make a joke that a lot of a lot of native folks will say things like my, my, my white name is, you know, Clayton, but my Indian name is this but I was never given a white name so my name is Ariel to thunder woman and my parents always make these jokes that they named me well because I'm loud like thunder. But I just wanted to sort of start things off by acknowledging all the wonderful people that have been doing a lot of amazing work on the ground in the lower 48 in the US to stop, not just the KXL pipeline and Tarsans but the Dakota Access pipeline challenging the Bakken oil, shale oil in North Dakota, those that are in the Gulf of Mexico, along the coast of California, there are struggles across this nation. I just happened to come from a community that is in the heart of the largest industrial project on planet Earth which is the Alberta Tarsans. It's hard to conceptualize just how big these projects really are, but the area in which were the Tarsans actually exists is about 144,000 square kilometers or the size of the entire state of Florida. And these pipelines and there's many that the Keystone XL just being one of many proposed pipelines or are the existing pipelines that are trying to get Alberta's oil to international markets by building pipelines that take the oil to the coast to be delivered in tanker traffic. So these projects are just one tiny part of a larger machine. And there's there was a really good question about like what can we do before the crews get on site what can we do upstream. Well the upstream battle is actually stopping the extraction of this oil before it begins. We absolutely have to challenge the pipelines I'm not saying let's like let's just pack up and start come come to Alberta and we can just blockade up here it'll be fun. It's really cold. But the reality is is that we do have to talk about the source. One of our biggest clients or buyers of the oil from Alberta's Tarsans is the United States. You are one of our biggest clients. So we have to address that we can't just be saying let's stop the pipeline we have to talk about United States addiction to oil the world's addiction to oil and we have to stop demanding that we produce these oil projects particularly bottom of the barrel oil projects like Alberta's oil sands or Tarsans. And you know sometimes people don't understand what I mean when I say bottom of the barrel well and the immensity of this right now in Alberta there are over 5000 licenses granted to almost every multinational corporation in the world. And there has on a on a yearly basis 170 billion liters. I don't know what that means I don't know in gallons, but 170 billion liters of fresh water are utilized to extract the oil from the ground. And this water ends up in these toxic tailings ponds and since operations began in the 60s 1.3 trillion liters of toxic tailings or what was once before fresh water has accumulated in tailings ponds and this is enough toxic waste to fill 400,000 400,000 I didn't misspeak Olympic swimming pools. And this is leaching into the Athabasca river system in the Kenzie River basin where my community lives. Now it would be one thing to say, okay, well this is a pipeline these projects are in existence but the reality is is we're still seeing projects being approved every single year, we're still seeing projects being proposed every single year. And we're not really slowing down right now the largest ever proposed tar sands mine the largest ever. So we're moving in the opposite direction, the largest ever tar sands mine has been proposed and is in the regulatory review process. And it's been proposed by a company called tech resources, which is a Canadian coal mining company that has decided to take its chances in the oil sands. This is a company that is trying to produce a massive amount of oil that is directly connected to these pipeline projects connected to the Keystone XL it's connected to the Kinder Morgan pipelines it's connected to line three. We have to be talking about how we support not just challenging these pipelines, but literally connecting the dots at the source. Indigenous communities are feeling the most of these impacts, whether it's in South Dakota, or down the Gulf of Gulf of Mexico. Mexico are all the way in northern Alberta our communities are facing the worst of it these projects are being approved without our free prior and informed consent, and they're violating our rights every single day. While exacerbating global climate change, we have to start talking about connecting the dots and stopping the demand for this dirty, a bottom of the barrel oil. Thank you so much, Ariel. You know, often when I when I talk about the tar sands publicly, you know, it one of this. I often say you have to think about it like a science fiction horror movie. Like, like, like it's taking place on Mars or it's a scene from avatar. You know, the, the science fiction proportion of this development, you know, they move they have moved more earth in the tar sands than the Suez canal the great pyramids of Giza. The world's 10 largest hydroelectric dams and the Great Wall of China combined. You know, it is absolutely massive and the tailings ponds that Ariel speaks of I mean you could see these things from the International Space Station and the tech frontier project. That's as big as all of the other surface mining projects that already exist in the tar sands. That project would have its own dedicated tailings pond. So it's just absolutely crazy. Can I just add that that project is also set to be 16 kilometers from the boundary of my community on the shores of the Athabasca River, which is our major lifeline. You know, we talk a lot about water is life in the US and the Dakota access pipeline and other projects, but these projects have been operating since the 60s and we're sanctioning new projects every single year that are contaminating our very lifeline for our community. We don't have a road. This is our roadway. This is our water source. This is our animals water source. This is literally the heart of our community. And they're leaching 11 million liters of toxic contaminant into it every day and still proposing new projects to add insult to injury. Well, I want to thank you, Ariel, you know, for sharing, you know, if folks want to find more information, Google indigenous climate action or aerial derange, you'll see a tremendous amount of content online. So I'm going to take us back around again. You know, to to to bill. You know, there's a lot of confusion about what this all means for Trans Canada. You know, and the question that I was hoping that you could talk about Bill a little bit more in depth before we jump into next steps here is is just what is that current situation mean and connection to climate. Sure. A little bit of news and my colleague Kendall has just been sending me the sort of breaking news here, which is that the public service commission in Nebraska is going to hold more oral arguments in a week. December 12 about this question of routes across Nebraska do they have to apply for a new permit for the new route they were granted how does that work we hope very much that they do have to apply for a new one they should since it goes in a different place that would delay the project further and give us that much more time to prepare. I wanted to say a couple of other things to one is people have been asking good questions about how to get involved in some of this work around financing around these issues and things. One place that I'd like to encourage people to go check out is the work that the people are doing it. And they've been really coordinating some of this bank financing stuff it's ma z a s k a t lks.org. Okay, and check it out. They're doing very, very good stuff. Third thing I'd like to say drawing on what people said, what Judith said. It is so important that everybody understand that if you make your way to the Dakotas or Nebraska, everybody's all of us arriving as guests of the people who were there and under everyone's direction. And that's going to be important and it's going to be beautiful. It was one of the things that made what happened at Standing Rock so remarkable to see. And the final thing I was going to say an area. Let's okay to talk about this. Yes, this Aviva thing just for a second. People should know that indigenous climate action did something remarkable today. I've gotten a check for 150 grant from a company Aviva. I don't even know what Aviva makes or does or anything else, but they were going to give them an award for their work to go on with it. And I went upstream as we're saying tonight and found that the parent company was invested in all kinds of tar sands related investments and said, you know what, we're going to do without your $150,000. I think what that means, among other things is, if you're approaching a holiday season with a few loose bucks in your pocket, it might be okay to go to indigenous underscore. So I can't forget the absolute. I know that tweet Twitter address, but not the website. What's the website where people can go Ariel, you can just go to www.indigenousclimateaction.com I'll put it in the side here. You can write there's a support or crowdfund at the top. You can, there's also you can donate to our PayPal account as well. That was a deep thing that you all did and thank you very much for it. I mean, one of the reasons why is that Aviva, which is an insurance company, one of the first things we found out that flagged it for us was that they were invested in TransCanada, which is associated with KXL and that was the first flag that I received and then we investigated and they're not just invested in TransCanada but basically every pipeline and every oil sands project to the tune of a half a million half a billion dollars. Clay, did I answer the question you wanted answered there? Absolutely. And talk about modeling, you know, the way that we need to be, you know, dealing with funding. You know, the whole issue of corporate sponsorship continues to be a very slippery slope, especially in a world where there exists so much scarcity. I take my hat off to Indigenous Climate Action for modeling to social movements on how we should have relationships with money and certainly echo Bill's words. If you have it, if you have the means to definitely visit their website and contribute to the good work that they're doing, I'm going to move us forward into, you know, the part of this call, which is basically around next steps. You know, we have a tremendous amount of obstacles ahead with dealing with this project and none of them are a sure bet. But one thing that is certain is that, you know, everybody here on this call and the 12,000 of you that have signed up for the promise to protect is that we are the biggest obstacle for Trump and TransCanada on this project and we are ready now and going to continue to be expanding our readiness as we move through the months ahead in terms of our ability to respond. And so, you know, I ask all of you, you know, to continue to reaffirm your commitment to the promise to protect, you know, especially with the beautiful framing that Judith LeBlanc sent. We have to have prayerful and intentional action, transparent and accountable action for the type of work that is yet to come. You know, and the fact of the matter is, is that we have never done anything like this, you know, I think Judith mentioned that, you know, Standing Rock was its own thing, and that, you know, we're seeing Standing Rocks pop up, you know, from coast to coast to coast in the lower 48 and here in Canada and the world over really of communities that are fighting against the encroachment of fossil fuel infrastructure. And, you know, we want to encourage you to sit at your dinner table, you know, talk to your family about this commitment that you've made. Talk to your coworkers at work. You know, talk to your congregation in the places of faith that you might go to speak with God with your fellow community members about or in the lodge, you know, in the sweat lodge, or at, you know, heck at bingo for for some of you that might play bingo. Talk to people about the commitment that you've made to stand shoulder to shoulder with frontline communities against the Keystone Excel and creative peaceful resistance. So I guess a little bit from 350 side of things, we're going to be announcing a training schedule in early 2018. And if Trans Canada delays their schedule, we'll figure out what actions we can, that can be taken in the meantime to keep the pressure on them. And I think that that means, you know, taking local action, you know, certainly this whole fight has always been about more than one pipeline. Pipeline fighters, water protectors, organizers, community members that are fighting the good fight for climate justice in your territory. You know, shared narrative strategies are always such an important piece of the work. And I think for all of us, you know, it's so important that, you know, we don't just do this work in our backyards that we, you know, share the full life cycle analysis of this stuff that we talk about the importance of stopping tar sands at the source that we talk about the fight of communities like Port Arthur, Texas, you know, communities of color that are fighting against the refinement of this dirty oil. And all the hundreds of communities that are fighting against these proposed route of ways for these pipelines like Keystone Excel. I want to, I want to move us next, you know, we've got a ton of speakers, or sorry, questions that have popped up. And I want to see if there's an opportunity now for us to have some questions answered. So you've got the first question that we have is from Elizabeth, and Elizabeth has asked, can you talk more about the training sessions, when and where they will be. I don't. Is that who's going to answer that is am I answering that is the, sorry. The training sessions will be announced in the early stage of 2018. So just after New Year, once we have more data available, we'll be announcing on the promise to protect website, you know where you've signed up to share that information. So we don't have exactly that information yet, but they will certainly be designed for community people from all walks of life to understand how to show up and to participate in a mass. So that will create a resistance to Keystone Excel, in a way that, you know, is showing up in the best way for locally affected communities, you know, so that we're showing, you know, that we're prepared that we show up in the best way possible. The second question that we have is, can you give, can you give specifics of your plans, if not when and perhaps where, where do you think people will be asked to go. To gather. Bill, go for it. First of all, no, because we don't know yet. Anything about what's going on people are taking this promise because we need to get started, but there's, you know, at the moment. We're happy with the delays that we've seen so far we hope we have a lot of time, and people are hard at work on the ground, not me but lots of people hard at work on the ground, figuring out what will make sense. I think it's important for people to get that right now, we do not need people flooding into South Dakota I mean, speaking as the, you know, non indigenous member of this panel. The last thing we need is a lot of good hearted people showing up in the middle of the winter in South Dakota, not necessary, tons of work to be done wherever you are right now, and, and get on it. And, and the people who are up there will let us know when the time has come that they'd like us to come, and they'll let us know where they'd like us to go. And the thing that Judas said about the necessity of being good guests is takes all priority here. So, just like you wouldn't, you know, call up, if you're coming over for dinner to ask what someone's cooking. Let's, you know, just be cool, and let things ripen over time. Thank you, Bill. You know, and it's important to understand that that that, you know, what we're waiting for a decision from Trans Canada, this is all a victory for us right now. You know, and as Bill mentioned, we've got a ton of more work to do a ton more information that we need to gather, and we'll be sharing our plans, you know, continue to monitor 350 on Twitter. You can find our website, 350.org, fossil free campaign, or sorry, Keystone Excel campaign, there's tons of information there, and continue to stay involved in that we'll be reaching out to all of you as well. Sorry, I'm just trying to look on here for the next question. I just want to also take that question to and elaborate a little bit more on that. Clay, can I just say I've got to say it's worth the top of the hour and I've got to get off the phone unfortunately to talk to a different continent. So, many, many, many thanks to everybody. And with any luck, Trans Canada will pull the plug in the whole thing and we'll have a party instead of anything else so on we go guys take care. Thank you so much, Bill for being here and we'll see you soon. So, let, I would like to say a few things about who's working on the ground. We. There is a no co Excel and no K Excel coalition that was formed back in the first round to defeat K Excel. It's led by the Dakota rural action. Which is a non native ranchers and farmers. And secondly, the brave hat society which is a over 20 year old traditional women's society based at Yankton Reservation led by faith spotted eagle. And then we have gathered together and there's been planning for since the beginning of the year. Elected tribal officials from Yankton from Rosebud from. From. Oglala. Pine Ridge Reservation. There are spiritual leaders from the Oshetti Shaqon. Seven council fires. There are community based groups that are that are doing work on a number of issues. There are tradition. There have been treaty committees from a number of the tribes. In fact, you could see the international indigenous Youth Council. A number of other women's societies you could see and hear the speeches of a number of the leaders that no co Excel, no text L group on the Native organizers. Organizes Alliance Facebook page. We have a video there of the press conference and statements of support for these coordinated, distributed national actions that will be hopefully not having to call and bringing people into South Dakota and Nebraska. But you can see on the Facebook page of Native Organizes Alliance, the talks of all of the leaders from that have come together in South Dakota. Thank you so much, Judith. I'm gonna move us into a really important piece that we really wanted to get from you. While we wait to hear what Trans Canada is going to do next, we know we need to continue to build this resistance. We need folks to step up and volunteer and to recruit people to join us in this promise to protect. And so we've got a couple of poll questions that we were hoping that all of you participating could answer. Those questions, the first one of course is are you interested in joining a volunteer team for the promise? For those of you that are here on the Zoom app, you can see the poll pop up on your screen. The second question of course is are you interested in joining a social media hype team for the promise to protect? So it's really, really easy. You just click your answers right in there and we really appreciate your feedback on that. We'll track those responses and our teams will be in touch with you on the pieces that you are committing to. I wanted to give a couple of big shout outs to all of the incredible grassroots groups, Dakota Rule Action, Braveheart Society, International Indigenous Youth Council and the countless others, big coalitions like Mazaska Talks, Money Talks, the divestment work that's happening through there, the Tarsans Treaty Alliance. There are literally so many different groups that are doing incredible work on Keystone. Be proactive, search the hashtag, promise to protect, search the hashtag, no KXL, of course Water Is Life is another popular hashtag attributed to this incredible work. I want to thank, we're coming up to the end of our call here. I wanted to move us towards wrapping up and thank everybody who's logged on on Facebook, who is here on Zoom. And most importantly, I wanted to thank all of our presenters, you know, Bill McKibbin, who's left us already for another call somewhere else on Mother Earth. Ariel Derange, Judith LeBlanc, Louis Grassrope, Remi, Oh, darn it, I had your name up here somewhere, but I've lost it in my notes. Remi Eagle something. You can correct me there, Remi, if you like. Joseph Whiteeyes, and just everybody that's come together for our call tonight. As I mentioned, we're gonna be in touch with you in early 2018 about our training schedule. We'll certainly be putting out through social media, you know, ways that you can get involved. And I think just on a personal level, I just wanna say that I appreciate each and every one of you that have been stepping up to fight to protect the sacredness of Mother Earth. We have a profound responsibility to fight, you know, for this precious resource of water, you know, our climate, you know, these things that we're borrowing from our grandkids that we're taking care of for them, you know, we need to do everything we can, especially in this era of the one there that's running the United States right now. We gotta really show up in ways that we have never imagined before. So I wanna thank you for being on the call tonight and we'll talk to you again soon. We'll see you out there and create a peaceful resistance in the streets and certainly out on the land.