Divestment

Divestment is intentionally removing investments from a particular company, industry, or sector. For example, a company can divest from the fossil fuel industry and extractivism in favour of moving towards a regenerative economy. In the university context, this means selling the university’s stocks, bonds, and other forms of invested funds in a particular industry, and foregoing future investments in that industry - Divest Canada Coalition , adapted by Michelle Xie

Examples of divestment campaigns

• The banks divestment movement calls for Canada's major banks to divest their investment portfolios from fossil fuels.
• The pension divestment movement calls for pension plans, such as the The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, to divest their investment portfolios from fossil fuels.
• The student divestment calls for universities to divest their investment portfolios from fossil fuels.

Police and government responses to the convoy that took place in Ottawa during a wave of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a clear inequality gap in the way out society treats some protestors at the expense of others. The convoy was made up primarily of white settlers.

If those involved were from BIPOC groups, they would have been met with heavily militarized force involving massive arrest and excessive use of force. We have seen this on the frontlines of pipeline resistance when the majority of defenders are Indigenous.

We can compare the way police protect predominantly white protestor groups to the way they ignore the concerns of, or violate, BIPOC groups. For example, the failure by police to protect Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters from settler violence in 2020, is a stark contrast to police not enforcing bylaws or criminal laws against convoy protesters, such as those who had complaints of harassment or those who brought hate symbols to the area.

Do divestment campaigns work?

Canadian universities that have committed to full or partial divestment include Laval University, Concordia University,, University of British Columbia, University of Guelph and the University of Montreal. 1000 other institutions globally have divested $14 trillion from the fossil fuel industry.

If one company withdrawns funding, won't another take their place?

• While the divestment movement alone may not solve the climate crisis, divestment is a part of the broader ecosystem of climate action. Divestment is considered a critical step in shifting how we run our society from principles of extraction to principles of generation.
• Divestment takes aim at the social license to operate of the fossil fuel industry, that is, the level of ongoing approval a community gives to the industry.
• Financial support is a key pillar that gives power to the fossil fuel industry. Loss of a partnership impacts their pillars of support by stigmatizing the fossil fuel industry. This propels the transition away from a fossil fuel-based economy to one fuelled by sustainable renewable energy.

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