WINNIPEG – The Wilderness Committee is hosting a town hall meeting tonight at the University of Winnipeg, in order to raise awareness and build opposition around plans to ship crude oil by rail to the northern Manitoba port of Churchill.

This meeting will provide concerned Manitobans with an opportunity to participate in a critical discussion about the proposal from Omnitrax Inc., which intends to transport 3.3 million barrels of crude oil annually on its rail line to Churchill. Following the Winnipeg event, the series of town halls will continue with similar meetings in Thompson (Oct. 15) and Churchill (Oct. 18).

“Shipping crude oil through such a unique and delicate stretch of wilderness is incredibly risky, and people from all over the province have been speaking out against the idea,” said Eric Reder, Campaign Director for the Wilderness Committee in Manitoba.

The Wilderness Committee has engaged hundreds of supporters to write to the Manitoba government, and recently the province announced its opposition to the oil shipping proposal. A test shipment of crude oil was originally scheduled for this fall, but it has now been postponed until next year.

The Wilderness Committee remains strongly opposed to the Omnitrax plan because of the climate change implications of increasing fossil fuel shipments, as well as the risk of an oil spill that would cause irreversible damage to the local environment. The rail line passes through remote terrain and sensitive wildlife habitat, and the Churchill region is a world-famous tourist destination for viewing iconic – and threatened – Arctic species such as polar bears and beluga whales.

“Polar bears and oil don’t mix,” said Dr. Douglas A. Clark, Centennial Chair at the University of Saskatchewan School of Environment and Sustainability and a guest speaker at tonight’s town hall meeting. Clark also served as the first Chief Warden of Wapusk National Park, which is located just east of Churchill and protects the largest polar bear denning area in North America.

“The announcement from the Manitoba government was a big step in the right direction, but this proposal isn’t dead yet. Now we’re focused on spreading the word and urging the federal Transport Minister to put a stop to these plans once and for all,” said Reder.

The Winnipeg town hall meeting begins at 7 p.m. this evening at Eckhardt-Gramatté Hall, and is co-hosted by the University of Winnipeg Students’ Association, Ecopia and the Geography and Environmental Students’ Association (GESA).