Page 149 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

11 BEARING WITNESS AND THE LOGIC OF CELEBRITY … 139

and climate change campaigner Bill McKibben were both arrested. In
Ottawa, media coverage prior to the event heralded the presence of actors
and activists together with headlines such as “Protesters? Check! Police?
Check! Celebs? Also check!” (Smith 2011). In both instances the presence
of celebrities amplified the mediated logic of bearing witness by increasing
the event’s newsworthiness. The next section explores the logic of celebrity
in oil sands campaigning in greater detail.

CELEBRITY CAPITAL AND TAR SANDS PROTESTS
Protests around Alberta’s bitumen sands have consistently attracted
celebrity visits, interventions and acts of bearing witness (Wilt 2015). Of
the 96 tar sands protest actions coded for this research celebrities were
involved in 39 (40.5%) of the political contention undertaken.
The honour of the first celebrity visit to Alberta’s tar sands goes to
Canadian actress Neve Campbell. Campbell, a former A-list Hollywood
star, was known for her appearance in the popular 1990s television show
Party of Five as well as the horror movie Scream (1997). In October 2008
as part of an ‘awareness raising strategy’ eNGO ForestEthics (rebranded
Stand in April 2016), organized a two-day tour where Ms. Campbell vis-
ited Fort McMurray, various bitumen sites and met with the Chiefs of the
Mikisew Cree First Nation [MCFN] and the Athabasca Chipewyan First
Nation (ACFN) (Nease 2008). Campbell’s comments that she was “hor-
rified by the pace and scale of development in the tar sands, and the weak
response by our federal and provincial government” made national news
(ibid.). Campbell’s staged visit can be seen as the first of many celebrity
pilgrimages to bear witness to the oil sands designed to increase exposure,
reach and awareness of the issue. Although there is a degree of both play
and irony in the horror movie actress’ remarks about being “horrified” at
the oil sands.
In late September 2010 Canadian James Cameron, an Oscar-winning
film director whose credits include Terminator, Aliens, Titanic and Avatar
visited Alberta’s bitumen sands. His three-day excursion was initiated after
an April 2010 invitation from George Poitras on behalf of the Indigenous
Environmental Network (Tarbotton 2010). The invitation was made
during the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Rights and
spurred by Cameron’s comments that the oil sands were a “black eye” to
Canada’s image as an environmental leader (Canadian Press 2010). Four
months prior to the forum, Cameron was in the news for the Christmas