Orillia, Ontario man chains self to RBC branch
The news that RBC is Canada’s #1 climate-killing financial institution is catching on across the country. This week a man in Orillia, Ontario, part of the local XR GTA chapter, brought a message about extinction right to his local RBC branch:
A man who goes by Xavier Bergeron, an alias used to protect his identity, says he, accompanied by a photographer and videographer, was protesting RBC Royal Bank’s involvement with the fossil fuel industry.
“We went inside the bank, we were asked to leave, but I told the manager I refuse. She threatened us to call the police and I told her to go ahead, we will be outside waiting,” Bergeron told OrilliaMatters.
Bergeron, 54, says the protest was peaceful and the protesters were following all COVID protocols.
“While waiting for the police, I chained myself to the front door to make a point and resist arrest, as well as showing how I feel about the financial institution’s financing of ecological breakdowns,” he said.
“We all know that fossil fuel is bad, and the science is undeniable now. Levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are getting dangerously close to the tipping point where we will no longer be able to grow crops,” he said.
“It’s going to trigger sea level rises which will cause a billion people to be on the move,” he said.