ADVISORY: Indigenous land defenders, youth, climate finance experts & shareholders available for comment around Royal Bank of Canada April 7 annual general meeting.

WHAT: Royal Bank of Canada’s annual general meeting (AGM) to take place online and in-person in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

WHEN & WHERE: RBC’s AGM will take place Thursday, April 7, 2022 AGM at 9:30amEDT, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front St West. North Building, Constitution Hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

Press conference with Indigenous land defenders, climate experts, and shareholders at 12:30pmEDT, at Delta Toronto, Harbourfront Meeting Room, 75 Lower Simcoe St., Toronto.

Dial-in: Phone: +12042727920; Meeting ID: 86363969811; Passcode: *007134#  

Experts are available for in-person and in-studio interviews around RBC’s shareholder meeting day-of, as well as remote multimedia interviews.

WHY: Despite public climate commitments, Indigenous reconciliation statements, and net-zero rhetoric, RBC has doubled down on fossil fuel financing, ranking as the world’s fifth largest fossil bank and Canada’s #1 fossil fuel financier. With an estimated CAD $6.6 billion price tag, RBC is among top commercial banks providing the Coastal GasLink pipeline with working capital, while acting as financial advisor for the pipeline. Canada’s major banks grew support for the fossil sector by 70% in 2021, including alarmingly increasing tar sands financing by 51% to $26.4 billion CAD, with RBC leading the pack.

While RBC rejected a key climate resolution on a technicality, one that would end fossil fuel finance for expansion, Canada’s top fossil bank is expected to face shareholders on 3 key climate resolutions, as well as increasing public pressure both inside and outside the meeting.

WHO IS AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW: 

Available to speak on Indigenous land and water defense against RBC’s Coastal GasLink pipeline, including recent meetings with RBC executives, on-the-ground police harassment and violence, and celebrities joining the fight:

• Sleydo’, Molly Wickham, Gidimt’en Checkpoint Spokesperson

• Wet’suwet’en Tsayu Chief Hereditary Chief Na’Moks, John Ridsdale

Available to speak on decades-long fights to stop tar sands at the source and Indigenous sovereignty, the NoMoreDirtyBanks campaign, frontline experiences behind RBC’s increase in tar sands funding, and holding RBC accountable for its Indigenous rights violations and funding climate chaos:

• Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Indigenous Climate Action, Senior Director

Available to speak on global Climate Finance, RBC’s specific fossil fuel related financing, including technical and policy analysis, global trends, and Canada’s connection to the movement to end fossil fuel finance:

• Richard Brooks, Stand.earth, Climate Finance Director

Available to speak on youth interests in RBC’s continued fossil fuel financing as stakeholders in the future of the climate justice fight, as future customers, and as the future of the workforce:

• Aishwarya Puttur, Youth Activist, Banking on a Better Future, Core Organizer Education & Outreach   

• Aliiya Hirji, Youth Activist, Banking on a Better Future, Core Organizer

Available to speak in French on youth and customer interests in RBC’s continued fossil fuel investments as stakeholders in the fight for climate justice, as a future customer base, and as future leaders in the workforce:

• Jacob Pirro, Youth Activist, Quit RBC

Available to speak to the interests of young and emerging business leaders growing increasingly concerned about climate and the role of finance, as well as global finance and policy. 

• Gareth Gransaull, Re_Generation (formerly the Canadian Business Youth Council for Sustainable Development), Associate Director, youth activist