Commits a Contribution of $1 per Resident for Class Action Lawsuit
Date: June 21, 2024
Complete Article: Coast Reporter
We at the Sunshine Coast Sue Big Oil team are delighted to share that the District of Sechelt Council as agreed to commit to the Sue Big Oil lawsuit. Thank you to all local residents who have signed our petition and advocated to local governments, asking them to participate. With both Gibsons and Sechelt participating, we hope that the SCRD will find a way to participate too. (There are some structural issues with regional districts that need to be addressed in order for the RD to commit funds for the lawsuit.)
Excerpt:
The District of Sechelt will support the Sue Big Oil campaign in its filing of a class action lawsuit against global fossil fuel companies. The decision commits $1 per resident (Sechelt has about 12,000 people) as a contribution to the campaign.
Dawn Allen, Sue Big Oil Sunshine Coast organizer, spoke at the June 12 Committee of the Whole asking for the district’s support. Allen referenced climate change-related impacts B.C. residents have had to overcome lately, such as the Okanagan and Shuswap fires, which cost more than $720 million, and the 2021 heat dome that caused $17 billion in economic losses and the deaths of roughly a billion sea creatures.
“[The] Sue Big Oil campaign is aiming to get oil companies to pay their fair share, not the full cost. Just their fair share,” she said.
Sechelt Mayor John Henderson asked if it would be better to go after the users of oil instead of the big oil companies… saying that normally they go after the party that benefits and that people who use oil in daily life benefit much more broadly than an oil company profits.
“I don’t think it’s workable to go after soccer moms,” said Coun. Darren Inkster. “I think it’s more important that we go after the companies, the faceless companies that are making the profit.”
Council voted to recommend the request to council, with Henderson and Shepherd opposed. At the June 19 regular meeting, the recommendation was adopted without discussion along with the minutes from the committee meeting.