$7 Million from Tides Canada for 20 Organizations & Campaigns that Would Thwart The Canadian Oil Industry

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According to my analysis of U.S. tax returns for 2008 and 2009, Tides Canada paid $7 million to 20 organizations and campaigns that would block Canadian oil exports to Asia or tackle the Canadian oil industry.  In most cases, it is unclear how much of the total grant was spent specifically on projects directed towards the oil industry; that amount may be small or zero.  

The 25 organizations and campaigns and the amounts that they were granted by Tides Canada, are listed below along with excerpts from the U.S. tax returns for Tides Canada.

$3.2 million to organizations involved in the Great Bear Rainforest:

Environmental organizations object to oil tanker traffic on the north coast of B.C. because they say that it would endanger the Great Bear Rainforest.  In essence, the Great Bear Rainforest has become the Great Trade Barrier to Canadian oil exports to Asia.

• $848,966 was for the Rainforest Solutions Project, "in support of ongoing work to implement ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest."  The groups that make up the Rainforest Solutions Project are Forest Ethics Canada, Greenpeace, and the Sierra Club of B.C. 

• $505,134 for ongoing work of the Turning Point Initiative (Coastal First Nations) "to implement ecosystem-based management in the Great Bear Rainforest."

• $783,603 "for capacity building support of Forest Ethics Canada" 

• $532,882 ($341,198 and $191,684) to the Sierra Club of B.C.

• $306,494 for Ecotrust Canada

• $264,262 in support of Pacific Wild, a project "to protect the lands and waters of the Great Bear Rainforest." Pacific Wild has a No Tankers/No Pipeline campaign

$1.7 million to members of the PNCIMA Initiative:

Member organizations of the PNCIMA Initiative object to oil tanker traffic in the Great Bear Rainforest.

• $684,839 to the Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society
• $377,586 to the David Suzuki Foundation
• $339,378 to Ecojustice
• $336,379 to the World Wildlife Fund

$1.3 million to members of Pipe Up Against Enbridge:

• $328,378 to Skeena Wild Conservation Trust
• $251,049 ($149,900 and $101,049) to QQS (Eyes) Projects Society
• $91,697 "for the Oceans Initiative's acoustic habitat quality for northeast Pacific marine mammals research project." Living Oceans Society says that it is funded by the Oceans Fund at Tides Canada.
• $74,432 ($73,000 and $74,432) to the Northwest Institute for Bioregional Research Society
• $49,149 ($30,649 and $18,500) to the T. Buck Suzuki Foundation

For the list of partner organizations in Pipe Up Against Enbridge, click here.

In addition to the above, the U.S. Tides Foundation paid the Turning  Point $US 27,000 "to hire a co-ordinator to engage with government, industry, environmental groups, media and the public regarding the proposed Enbridge Gateway tar sands pipeline."

$835,397 paid to organizations that are supportive of a coastal tanker ban, according to Forest Ethics:

• $248,246 and $167,397 for the Headwaters Initiative
• $167,397 ($93,917 and $73,480) for the Driftwood Foundation 
• $90,125 for the Georgia Straight Alliance
• $16,625 for the Yukon Conservation Society

$324,808 for organizations involved in Various Campaigns Against Developing the Alberta Oil Sands:

• $321,619 ($202,608, $105,000 and $14,011) for Environmental Defense which has a "Toxic Tar Sands" campaign.
• $9,750 for an indigenous tar sands educational campaign
• $7,450 for the "Prairie Chapter Tar Sands Campaign"

Other campaigns and projects that tackle the Alberta oil industry:

• $391,773 ($200,000 and $191,773) for Ducks Unlimited, a member of the Boreal Songbird Initiative. The Boreal Songbird Initiative runs an Alberta Tar Sands Initiative which publicizes negative information about Alberta's oil sands.
• $62,510 "for general support of Rainforest Action Network Canada." This project calls itself "Environmentalism With Teeth." Rainforest Action Network is a member of RETHINK ALBERTA
• $87,293 for the Dogwood Initiative ($40,654 and $46,639)
• $13,629 for the Westcoast Environmental Law Research Foundation (WELRF) for "Mobilizing First Nations Against Climate Change." WELRF was also paid $100,000 by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund Inc.  "... to prevent the development of a tanker port and pipeline that would endanger the Great Bear Rainforest."

Not included in the above are:

• $133,763 paid to the University of Toronto “in support of an independent university platform to develop and disseminate peer-reviewed information about the interplay between tar sands development and continental water availability and use, with particular focus on the effects this expansion will have on water quality and quantity, specifically in the Great Lakes basin.

• $307,581 "for general support of Canadians for the Climate Leadership project."  This project is part of or involved with Power Up Canada, an initiative led by Tzeporah Berman to get the federal government of Canada to enact laws and policies with regards to global warming.

• $5,823 for Check Your Head which, according to Forest Ethics, is also supportive of a ban on oil tanker traffic.

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