These whales cannot go to court

In just the last few days, 1,347 concerned people like you have signed and sent a letter asking the government not to settle with a New Jersey company who has been thwarted from developing a destructive quarry in the Bay of Fundy.

Because of you, we have been an instrumental force on this campaign since the beginning, and we’re not going anywhere. But we need your help!

Your donation today of $35, $50, or even $100 will allow us to continue this work to stop reckless developments in the Bay of Fundy and to be a strong advocate at a critical legal phase in this story. Only you can help us see this battle through.

After a federal and provincial environmental review panel deemed the project a risk to the environment and to the community that relies on it, the quarry company is now claiming $101,000,000 (one hundred and one million dollars) in losses through a chapter under NAFTA.Digby-Bilcon-How-We-Got-Here

When it comes to trade agreements, NAFTA is just an example of how “investor-state” provisions will be used by companies in the proposed, looming TPP agreement to claim losses – in untold millions of dollars - from the Canadian treasury.

With these trade agreements, our government will be left with few options – settle with foreign companies who sue Canada for losses, or avoid huge payouts and allow these companies to undertake industrial development in pristine places like the Bay of Fundy.

Neither should be an option.

Because our whales are not for sale.

Our coastal communities are not for sale.

And Canada is not for sale.

We got into this battle to support the community's right to say no to projects that would have negative impacts on the environment and on especially fragile mammals like right whales. The quarry project would have brought:

industrial noise that threatens a whale’s ability to communicate and locate food sources

pollution that is thought to be greatly affecting already critically low calf rates

• the mortal effects of ship strikes on a population where the loss of even one individual is devastating when there are fewer than 275 mature North Atlantic Right Whales left

You and I know that for whales, coastal communities and the people who rely on healthy fisheries and tourism – as the folks in the Bay of Fundy do - impending international trade agreements will put these special groups at great risk.

Help us say “NO” to multi-million dollar settlements paid for by all of us. Help us say “No” to hazardous trade agreements that put corporations before people and wildlife. And help us continue to protect endangered Right Whales by saying “No” to damaging development. Please send a gift today.

I’ll keep you up-to-date on what’s next. Thanks so much for being a voice for these special whales.

Gretchen Fitzgerald
National Program Director