On January 29 grassroots organizations across the country took to the internet and to the streets – covid safely – to send the message to RBC that its massive funding of fossil fuels is not ok.

XR Quebec took its Leo the Lion mascot to RBC for a demonstration, and supporters went into branches to deliver a copy of a letter from 40 Indigenous women leaders demanding that banks stop financing the tar sands (RBC is the second biggest funder of the tar sands in the world, after TD).

In Toronto, 350 Toronto hung a banner across the busy Gardner Expressway with a RBC logo dripping oil and the message “Fossil Banks No Thanks.”

Over 100 student strikers gathered online for an “action zap,” and also demonstrated at a RBC branch on UBC campus.

Meanwhile, the hashtag #FossilBanksNoThanks got trending, and readers of the Toronto Star were treated to an op-ed by a parent and former RBC customer describing why he switched to a credit union instead.