An environmental group has raised the ire of the Royal Canadian Mint for its campaign protesting future oil-tanker traffic along the West Coast.
The Victoria, B.C.-based Dogwood Initiative is selling stick-on decals for loonie coins designed to make the birds look like they’re floating on an oil slick. The campaign was developed by Rethink in Vancouver.
The mint is not amused, saying in a Feb. 2 letter to the group that the decals violate the Currency Act and could result in fines or prison time.
In response, Dogwood is defending its campaign as legal and has vowed to circulate more decals, hoping they’ll soon be found in purses, pockets and cash registers from coast to coast.
Dogwood executive director Will Horter said the group’s goal is to get a million decals into circulation.
The group launched the campaign earlier this month with 100,000 stickers and said it has just ordered 250,000 more.
The decals, which carry the address for a campaign website, can be peeled off with a fingernail but are surprisingly durable once affixed, said Horter.
In its letter, the mint said the decals amount to advertising, which is illegal under the Currency Act.
“The decals, when placed on coins, are clearly intended to protest tar sands tankers, to communicate this protest to the public, and by directing Internet traffic to the Dogwood website, to advertise Dogwood Initiative as an organization,” the letter states.
Protesting, communicating and advertising contravene section 11 of the Currency Act, which prohibits using Canadian coins for purposes other than as currency, according to the mint.
In response, Dogwood said it is not advertising, but merely raising awareness about the threat of proposed oil tankers and pipelines in northern British Columbia.
The group did, however, change some images on its website in response to copyright concerns expressed by the mint.
Dogwood’s anti-tanker campaign focuses on the Northern Gateway project proposed by Calgary pipeline company Enbridge.
The project would involve twin pipelines running from near Edmonton to a new marine terminal in Kitimat, B.C.
Tankers coming to and from the terminal in Kitimat would move through Douglas Channel, in the same area where a BC Ferries vessel crashed and sank in 2006.
In its description of Northern Gateway, Enbridge says ships carrying petroleum and condensate for the project would be modern, double-hulled vessels.
It also lists numerous other safeguards, including a “floating environmental protection system” for ships docked at the terminal. —Canadian Press with files from Marketing staff
