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Picard said Thursday’s meeting between Desjardins and several leaders from the Treaty Alliance Against Tar Sands Expansion will be an opportunity to bring the group’s message directly to the credit union.

“The industry and its lobby is very strong, we know that they won’t give up that easily. But at the same time, we can be just as firm in terms of expressing our positions, and making sure that they be heard.”

The Treaty Alliance will also be pushing to have Desjardins sell its existing $145-million stake in Kinder Morgan’s credit facility for the Trans Mountain expansion project, part of the company’s $5.5 billion in credit facilities for the project.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs said the campaign is about battling the oilsands industry on all fronts.

“The oil and gas industry had a pretty unfettered access to the financial community, to the investment community in regard to their grandiose expansion plans up until now,” said Phillip.

“Now there’s greater scrutiny, and it goes hand in hand with the undeniable, irrefutable evidence of the catastrophic impacts of climate change.”

The pressure helped lead Dutch bank ING Groep NV to sell off its US$120-million investment in the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in the U.S. in March, and to later clarify that it doesn’t plan to fund any Canadian oilsands pipelines.

Kinder Morgan Canada, however, said in an emailed statement that it has received an outstanding level of support within the financial community, including with its public stock listing and closing of its billions in credit facilities.