YOU’RE NOT HELPING MY WELLNESS, RBC!
“We owe it to future generations to do everything we can today to mitigate the effects of climate change while we can still have an impact,” University of Ottawa President Jacques Frémont said when discussing the University’s efforts toward divesting from fossil fuel investments.
I would love to ask him how allowing the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to take up valuable campus space, to push credit cards and finance fossil fuels is doing ‘everything we can’.
It was a sweltering first day of the University of Ottawa’s Clubs (and Wellness) Fair – it being 31°C and feeling like 40°C. A friend let me know some students were protesting RBC. The first thing I saw when I made it to the Grande Allée was an ‘RBC is Killing Me’ poster taped to the sign which pointed to the RBC branch. There were two protection officers looking at the poster, who proceeded to take it off the sign.
Before I arrived, RBC had threatened to call the police even though we weren’t doing much besides standing there, smiling at our fellow students walking past. Actually seeing protection there set a certain tone to the event.
As soon as I got there, I grabbed a poster to hold and stood in front of the booth as people walked through the alley. My friends and I were in a cheery mood considering the angry conversation between RBC employees and protection services happening behind us. If students asked about the posters or looked interested, we explained that we want RBC off campus and why.
People walking past with their friends would laugh and point as they walked by, amused by us protesting RBC right in front of their table. Getting the message out there is what is important. Appealing to the causes the student body cares about is important. We found that explaining the RBC branch used to be a 24-hour student lounge is the way into the hearts of the student body.
It is incredibly ironic that RBC was tabling under the guise of the wellness fair – they are definitely not a club.They are the largest financier of fossil fuels in Canada, and fifth worldwide. THAT DOESN’T HELP MY WELLNESS, RBC! If anything it harms it.
As a student who is minoring in environmental studies, this cause is incredibly important to me. Even before it was my minor, I was very concerned about the climate crisis and the state of the world going forward. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, and anxiety-inducing to wake up every single day and see climate catastrophes happening across the world.
But taking action, showing up to a protest, signing petitions, and calling on the University of Ottawa to support their students’ futures and the world they are inheriting is something that helps me sleep easier at night.
While this protest may have been four people standing in front of a table with posters thrown together in 15 minutes, it brought needed attention to an issue that affects the students who are currently studying on the university campus and their futures.
