Vuntut Gwitchin Government and Gwich’in Tribal Council – are celebrating news that the Bank of Montreal (BMO) has prohibited financing for oil and gas exploration and development activities in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. BMO has confirmed this new policy in an update to their Responsible Lending webpage. The move from BMO follows a similar action from the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) earlier this month. BMO and RBC have joined more than two dozen global financial institutions that have rejected drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge including five of six major U.S. banks which include Citi, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.