Hollywood actors demand end to funding of Canadian energy projects

Hollywood actors are joining together to oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline in Canada. According to Fox News, Mark Ruffalo, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Stiller and other stars have signed letters to the Royal Bank of Canada, demanding it cease funding the project.

The letter urges the Royal Bank of Canada to "withdraw support from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, effective immediately." It continues to say the "City National Bank's parent company Royal Bank of Canada is bankrolling the climate crisis and violating the rights of Indigenous Peoples."

Over 65 stars have signed the letter to the bank, some of whom filmed a video together to raise awareness, using the hashtag #NoMoreDirtyBanks. Dubbed "Bank of the Stars," City National Bank acquired the Royal Bank of Canada in 2015.

Mark Ruffalo is seemingly leading the charge in this movement, as the website for the campaign features a video of him. "Right now, major banks like the Royal Bank of Canada are financing a fracked gas pipeline bulldozing through the land of the Wet'suwet'en nation in Northern British Columbia, Canada," Ruffalo says.

The website also allows users to send a pre-written letter to The Royal Bank of Canada. Beyond demanding an end to the Coastal GasLink pipeline, it asks the bank to "uphold, affirm and respect the rights of Indigenous peoples."

"The time to defund Coastal GasLink is now. RBC must withdraw from the Coastal GasLink fracked gas pipeline now and stop financing fossil fuels," the letter continues.

Ruffalo's video continued with him claiming, "the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs never consented to this pipeline construction through their terrorities, which would risk the sacred headwaters of the Wedzin Kwa River, but here's where it gets complicated."

The Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs do not hold any legal power over the project and are a largely symbolic rank of leaders. Indigenous communities elect their officials, almost all of whom have vocally supported the ongoing pipeline as it would create thousands of jobs in impoverished areas.

When asked why he felt it was up to celebrities to make such a statement, Ruffalo said "people listen to us," according to Global News.

"We have this privilege and we have to use it for the right thing. None of this matters if our children can’t drink the water, they can’t breathe the air, they can’t go outside, the world burns around them. None of this means anything anymore. We’re becoming desensitized to this insanity that we’re living in."