CITY NATIONAL BANK IS HOLLYWOOD’S “BANK TO THE STARS”

CELEBRITIES ARE CALLING ON CITY NATIONAL’S PARENT RBC TO STOP FUNDING FOSSIL FUELS AND ONGOING VIOLATIONS OF INDIGENOUS RIGHTS.

  • Robert Downey, Jr.

    Robert Downey, Jr

    OSCAR-NOMINATED ACTOR

  • Scarlett Johansson

    OSCAR-NOMINATED ACTOR

  • Mark Ruffalo

    OSCAR-NOMINATED ACTOR

  • Jane Fonda

    OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR

  • Edward Norton

    OSCAR-NOMINATED ACTOR

  • Leonardo DiCaprio

    OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR

  • Michelle Pfeiffer

    ACTOR & PRODUCER

  • Taika Waititi

    OSCAR-WINNING DIRECTOR & ACTOR

  • David E. Kelley

    WRITER & PRODUCER

  • David Fincher

    OSCAR-NOMINATED DIRECTOR & PRODUCER

  • The Lumineers

    GRAMMY-NOMINATED BAND

  • Jewel

    GRAMMY-NOMINATED MUSICIAN

  • Joakim Noah

    NBA ALL-STAR

  • Ben Stiller

    ACTOR & PRODUCER

  • Amy Schumer

    EMMY-WINNING ACTOR

  • Patti Smith

    GRAMMY-NOMINATED MUSICIAN

  • Joaquin Phoenix

    OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR

  • Mehcad Brooks

    ACTOR

  • Jack Johnson

    GRAMMY-NOMINATED MUSICIAN

  • Marissa Tomei

    OSCAR-WINNING ACTOR

AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR “BANK TO THE STARS”

To City National Bank and Royal Bank of Canada,

It has come to the undersigned’s attention that our industry’s premier “bank to the stars”, City National Bank (CNB), has a problem. Its parent company, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), is financing the climate crisis and disregarding the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Despite claiming to be a leader in climate conscious banking, since acquiring CNB in 2015, RBC has invested over $160 billion to become one of the world’s largest and most aggressive financiers of tar sands, fossil fuel extraction, and transport.

Despite claiming to “respect the inherent right of Indigenous peoples to self-determination”, RBC is now the lead financier of Coastal GasLink, a fracked gas pipeline being built through the pristine territory and waters of the Wet’suwet’en Peoples without the consent of the Hereditary Chiefs.

For over a decade, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, members of the nation and their supporters, have protested this pipeline—at significant risk to their own lives. In the past three years, they have suffered multiple police raids, the burning of their cabins by suspected arsonists , extreme police harassment, and armed violence.

With RBC as its financial leader, the controversial Coastal Gas Link project has shown a blatant disregard for Wet’suwet’en People, the will of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and the Canadian Supreme Court-recognized sovereignty of the unceded Wet’suwet’en territory.

In bolstering RBC’s portfolio, valuation, and reserve capacity, our “bank to the stars” is aiding projects that violate Indigenous rights as stated by the UN High Commissioner’s Office on Human Rights. We refuse to allow our industry’s bank of choice to be unethical at any level, to accelerate the climate crisis, or to facilitate the abuse the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We, the undersigned, demand that City National Bank’s parent company, Royal Bank of Canada, withdraw support from the Coastal GasLink pipeline, effective immediately.

Let us lead the way to a sustainable and peaceable future—together.

 

Signed,

 

Chris Abbott
Actor

Benny Blanco
Grammy-Nominated Producer

Brandon Boyd
Grammy-Nominated Musician, Incubus

Mehcad Brooks
Actor

Bernie Cahill
Activist Artist Management

J. Smith-Cameron
Actor

Emmanuelle Chriqui
Actor

Cean Chaffin
Oscar-Nominated Producer

Lily Cole
Model, Activist 

Mathew Cooke
Director

Brian Cox
Emmy-Winning Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio
Oscar-Winning Actor

Robert Downey, Jr.
Oscar-Nominated Actor

Griffin Dunne
Oscar-Nominated Director, Actor

Ava Duvernay
Oscar-Nominated Director

Megalyn Echikunwoke
Actor

Alex Ebert
Musician, Composer

David Fincher
Oscar-Nominated Director, Producer

Frances Fisher
Actor

Jane Fonda
Oscar-Winning Actor

Bart Freundlich
Director

Josh Gad
Actor

Jerry Garcia Family
Estate

Rob Garza
Musician, Thievery Corporation

Kathryn Hahn
Actor

Albert Hammond, Jr.
Grammy-Winning Musician, The Strokes

Glen Hansard
Oscar-Winning Musician

Alma Har’el
Director

Mariska Hargitay
Emmy-Winning Actor

Caryl Hart
Vice Chair, California Coastal Commission 

Mickey Hart
Musician, Dead & Company

Jewel
Grammy-Nominated Musician

Scarlett Johansson
Oscar-Nominated Actor

Jack Johnson
Grammy-Nominated Musician

David Kelly
Writer, Producer

Bill Kreutzmann
Musician, Dead & Company

Ben Lee
Grammy-Nominated Musician

Gunnar Lovelace
Founder, Good Money

The Lumineers
Grammy-Nominated Band

Magic Giant
Band

Jena Malone
Actor

Rooney Mara
Oscar-Nominated Actor 

Bill McKibben
Founder, 350.org

Julianne Moore
Oscar-Winning Actor

Joakim Noah
NBA All-Star

Edward Norton
Oscar-Nominated Actor 

Michelle Pfeiffer
Actor, Producer

Joaquin Phoenix
Oscar-Winning Actor

Mike Posner
Grammy-Nominated Musician

Margaret Riley
Lighthouse Management

Shani Rosenzweig
Agent / Partner, UTA

Gary Ross
Oscar-Nominated Writer/Director/Producer

Mark Ruffalo
Oscar-Nominated Actor

Deia Schlosberg
Emmy-Winning Filmmaker

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros
Grammy-Winning Band

Amy Schumer
Emmy-Winning Actor

Alia Shawkat
Actor

Ione Skye
Actor

Patti Smith
Grammy-Nominated Musician

Jesse Paris Smith & Rebecca Foon
Founders, Pathway To Paris

Soko
Actor, Musician

Sam Spiegel
Musician, Founder, Squeak E. Clean Studios

Mickey Sumner
Actor

Fisher Stevens
Oscar-Winning Producer, Actor, Director

Ben Stiller
Emmy-Winning Actor

Marisa Tomei
Oscar-Winning Actor

Alyssa Milano
Actor

Kevin Vilkin
Summit Series

Taika Waititi
Oscar-Winning Director, Actor

Naomi Watts
Oscar-Nominated Actor

Bob Weir
Musician, Dead & Company

Scott Wexler
Lighthouse Management

Shailene Woodley
Actor

Ry X
Musician

  • Tar Sands Photographs by Greenpeace + William Akehurst

    The following photographs are licensed under Creative Commons 2.0

    Robert Downey, Jr.
    Scarlett Johansson
    Mark Ruffalo
    Shailene Woodley
    Taika Waititi
    - by Gage Skidmore

    Jack Johnson
    - by youngroby

    Michelle Pfieffer
    - by Walt Disney Television

    Jane Fonda
    - by tedeytan

    Jewel
    - by Jennifer Stoddart

    David E. Kelley
    - by Peabody Awards

    The Lumineers
    - by Drew de F Fawkes

    Edward Norton
    - by Steve Jurvetson

    Joaquin Phoenix
    - by Diana Ringo

    Marissa Tomei
    - by Rhododendrites

    Amy Schumer
    - by Maryanne Ventrice

    Patti Smith
    - by Beni Kohler

    David Fincher
    - by Raffi Asdourian

    Ben Stiller
    - Montclair Film