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Environmental protesters once again glued their hands to the road at Trudeau airport Friday, this time blocking access to the arrivals area.
The anti-oil protest by Last Generation Canada was the third in a row of its kind at the airport demanding an end to fossil fuels.
In addition to three protesters gluing their hands to the road at around 12:30 p.m., others held up banners that read “Oil Kills.” Three people were arrested by Montreal police and were still meeting with investigators at around 3:30 p.m.
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The first protest, held Wednesday, saw three protesters glue their hands to the road to block the departures ramp, backing up traffic for hours. On Thursday, two protesters sprayed pink paint onto the doors and windows of the departures area. All were arrested and subsequently released on a promise to appear in court.
In a statement on X, the airport said Friday’s protest had caused delays at the exit. It suggested travellers use express drop-offs at the P4 and P10 parking lots, and maintained that advice even once the protest wrapped up just after 2:30 p.m.
Last Generation Canada’s goal is to pressure the Canadian government to sign a treaty to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. The government would also be required to help other countries transition away from oil.
Last Generation Canada is also calling on the government to create a national firefighting agency, including 50,000 firefighters and a citizens’ assembly, that would be responsible for deciding how to tackle the climate crisis.
“Last year’s wildfire season was devastating, and it’s not going to get gentler going forward,” protester Ben Welchner, 32, said in a statement. “Three out of four Canadians support a national firefighting agency, and in a healthy democracy that would be enough. It clearly isn’t. Instead, they’re fuelling the fire by expanding the fossil fuel industry. We’ve tried being polite, and we’ve tried keeping our disruptions out of ordinary Canadians’ way. Now, if we want to survive, this is what we have to do.”
Vincent Lacombe, 27, added: “Just in the past week, we’ve seen Jasper burn to the ground, and floods hit Montreal and Toronto. We’ve been voting, marching, signing petitions and nothing has worked. We don’t have time.
“The only answer is nonviolent civil resistance.”
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