A downpour did not dampen spirits at a Sunday worship gathering, showing their support for Indigenous water protectors.

South of the border in Minnesota, a group of Anishinaabe people are protesting an Enbridge Inc. pipeline, set to transport crude oil from Alberta to the United States. TD Canada Trust is a supporter of the pipeline, Line 3.

On Sunday afternoon, Allegra Friesen Epp, a member of Home Street Mennonite Church, and Steve Heinrichs, a member of Hope Mennonite Church, stood in front of TD's 648 Notre Dame Avenue branch.  At the same time, in Gretna Manitoba others protested at Enbridge's pumping station, and a Zoom event was held.

"They all were a similar worship format, just happening in different places. It was a time for prayer, for song, for essentially finding ways to do worship in new spaces and also putting our words into action," Friesen Epp says.

Speaking up over the pouring rain in Winnipeg, they led a group 50-75 in prayers and protest, calling for TD to stop supporting Line 3.

"I think in our prayers we can protest the harms that are being committed, the wrongs that are being done. Prayers often serve as petitions to God."

Lamentation, grieving, and protest were all themes of Sunday's event, supporting the rights of people and respecting the land. She says as Mennonites they can support Indigenous movements well within their own religious traditions.

prayer windowsIn washable markers, many prayers were shares on TD's windows. (Steve Heinrichs/Supplied)

Despite the rain, the group pressed on, writing prayers in washable markers on windows, and on chalk on the sidewalk. Friessen Epps says they prayed for evil spirits to exit the bank.

"Sort of in the Christian tradition of exorcism, we riffed off of that. And it was really really powerful and really beautiful to wish these spirits to depart, and then to wish other spirits to fill the bank of TD to change hearts, spirits of love instead of greed."

She says the three goals of the event, for her, was to mobilize her own church community and those both in and outside of faith communities in a "joy-filled" event against Line Three's constructions, to apply pressure to TD, and to show the water protectors in Minnesota that they have supporters. 

As Mennonites, Friesen Epp believes they can use their religious practices to support Indigenous people.

The group is planning a sit-in at a TD bank in the coming weeks.

 

We have reached out to TD for comment but did not receive an immediate response.