Ta’Kaiya Blaney

Meet Ta’Kaiya.  She’s a ten-year-old girl from North Vancouver who, while learning about sea otters in her home-school, became concerned about the devastation oil tankers would cause to B.C.’s coast.

When she learned about Enbridge’s proposal to build an oil pipeline from the Alberta Tar Sands to the Great Bear Rainforest, bringing more than 200 oil tankers per year to this pristine coast, she got really worried.  Then she took action. This amazing young woman wrote a letter to Canadian politicians as well as a song that became a music video. Here they are:

March 24, 2011
Open Letter to Canadian politicians,

My name is Ta’Kaiya Blaney. I am 10-years-old. I live in North Vancouver and am from the Sliammon Nation. My name means “special water.”

I am writing to you because the Enbridge Corporation is planning to build a pipeline from the tar sands of Alberta to Kitimat, BC. I thought it would be very risky for our coast so I wrote a song, called “Shallow Waters” about an oil spill happening in the shallow waters.

You will be debating Bill C-606 soon, if an election is not triggered, which would ban oil tankers from our northwest coast. I am sharing my song’s music video and a personal message to encourage you to vote in favour of the bill.

Today is the anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Even today, 22 years later, oil still remains a few inches under the surface of the water.

With this song, I hope to encourage government officials, people of British Columbia, and people across the world will realize the dangers of oil pollution, replace jobs that destroy the environment with jobs that help the environment. I ask government and corporate officials such as yourselves change your plans stop oil tanker traffic on BC’s coast and in waters around the world.
Please feel free to share my letter and video with others.

All my relations,
Ta’Kaiya Blaney

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9dBrlDXVsk]

Join Ta’Kaiya and TAKE ACTION:

• The British Columbia- based Dogwood Initiative, whose mandate is to seek “solutions for lands and people” has a No Tanker campaign.
• Pipe Up Against Enbridge also has ideas for taking action.
• Check out this recent Yes Men hoax on Enbridge: “My Hair Cares”

More links:

Why Enbridge is Afraid of Ta’Kaiya Blaney

Enbridge Tar Sands Pipeline Threatens Canadian Wildlife

Michigan Oil Spill Among the Largest in U.S. History: Kalamazoo Spill Soaks Wildlife

Dangerous Goods: New Report Highlights Risks of Shipping Raw Oilsands