Indigenous group urges boycott of record Canadian pipeline bond deal

Some Indigenous leaders in Canada are asking investors not to buy bonds issued by a natural gas pipeline company that’s marketing the country’s largest-ever corporate debt deal.

Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation said investors should shun the multibillion-dollar financing, citing violations of Indigenous and legal rights, environmental and regulatory concerns and financial risks. The project, Coastal GasLink, is owned by pipeline operator TC Energy Corp., KKR & Co. and Alberta’s public pension manager.

“We are asking you to publicly announce a commitment to deny new debt ahead of TC Energy’s bond issuance this June, and fully divest from CGL,” said a letter signed by Hereditary Chief Na’Moks of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation and others.

The pipeline project involved “a yearslong campaign of violence, harassment, discrimination, and dispossession against Indigenous Wet’suwet’en land defenders,” the letter asserts, citing an Amnesty International report. 

The Coastal GasLink project in British Columbia has long been controversial, and in early 2020 it boiled over as protesters blocked roads, rail lines and ports in numerous places in Canada. However, the pipeline has the support of some elected indigenous leaders on Wet’suwet’en territory, who see economic benefits for their people. The conduit will ship Western Canadian gas to a nearly-completed liquefied natural gas complex on the BC coast. 

Coastal GasLink is seeking to borrow as least C$5 billion ($3.7 billion) to refinance debt. The deal, marketed by Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of America Corp., is expected to be sold on June 4. The pipeline’s owners and banks didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.