Len Desroche, Toronto, ON

As a human race, there are two things related to our very survival that we can’t keep doing: warfare – especially nuclear war – and violence against the Earth – especially the burning of fossil fuels.

In his last speech before his assassination Martin Luther King declared: “It is no longer a question of choosing between violence and nonviolence, but between nonviolence and non-existence.”

Since 2016, the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has poured $250 billion (USD) into oil, gas, and pipelines. We at Faith and Climate Action have asked RBC CEO, John Stackhouse, many times to meet with us to discuss RBC’s investments in fossil fuels and we have had no reply.

So, on April 24, 2026, we engaged in a sit-in – for the third time – at a downtown Toronto RBC branch. We refused to leave and were warned that we were “on private property.” We were arrested and fined.
After filling out my ticket in their police car, one of the two officers said to me that he was inspired by what we did. As I was leaving, the other officer said loud and clear: “Keep doing what you’re doing!” This is an example of how most Canadians – including police officers – care about the urgent climate crisis facing our dear Mother Earth. But most of us are not in charge of the deadly, extreme, profit-driven machinery of our culture. Greed is very real and extremely destructive.

We are not calling for an overnight shutdown of fossil fuels. What we need is a clear, rapid transition to renewable energy sources – sun and wind energy. If we reduce carbon pollution by 10 per cent every year, we can halt climate change before it’s too late. Banks like RBC can accelerate this transition by funding clean energy projects instead of doubling down on oil, gas and coal.

At the end of the first quarter 2025, RBC invested $61 billion in companies actively involved in Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and continuing genocide – including a blockade causing starvation in Gaza.

Militari$m!

“What can I do?!” you ask – little ‘ole powerless me! In fact there are some simple, but extremely powerful things you can do. You can divest: all of the Big Five Canadian banks are implicated. Do it alone or find one or three or four others to work with you. If you want help researching how your own bank is involved, ask Just Peace Advocates to help you: (info@justpeaceadvocates.ca).

You can intensify the power of your action by writing a letter letting your bank know exactly why you are withdrawing your money – both to your own branch and to the bank headquarters.

Take your money to your nearest credit union. Yes, this is a “bother”; it is inconvenient. I have to take the streetcar and bus to get to my credit union. The Big Five are extremely good at buying you off by offering the extreme convenience of a branch near you. Write to your credit union: “I hope we are not investing in and never will invest in warfare or fossil fuels.”

Before you withdraw your money, you can contact the CEO of your bank and ask to meet with her or him. If she/he refuses to meet with you, you can organize a small group to do a sit-in at one of the branches – in the spirit of Martin Luther King and nonviolent civil disobedience.

Why? To disrupt the deadly, extreme, profit-driven Canadian corporate machinery. In his encyclical, Laudato Si, Pope Francis gave voice to both “the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.” We too need to cry out to our “nice” Canadian corporate culture.