Tag Archives: Blockade

Kawartha Nishnawbe block reconstruction work on Burleigh Falls Dam

Burleigh Falls Dam is part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, now a national historic site operated by Parks Canada. The dam was originally constructed in 1912. (Dean Wood)

Group says barricades are over lack of consultation by Parks Canada

Members from an Ontario First Nation continue to block access to a dam reconstruction site because they say they were not properly consulted by Parks Canada.

Nodin Webb, leader and spokesperson for Kawartha Nishnawbe First Nation, said his community isn’t necessarily opposed to the work on the Burleigh Falls Dam, but Parks Canada should’ve involved them in the decision-making process.

Two barricades were erected last week that prevent access to the work site in Burleigh Falls, Ont., 130 kilometres northeast of Toronto.

“We’re out there defending the land until we can get confirmation from Parks Canada that there will be no further construction or demolition until they consult us, a procedure they are legally required to do,” he said.

The Kawartha Nishnawbe have vowed not to move until Parks Canada properly consults with them about the reconstruction. (Submitted by Amber Seager)

The Kawartha Nishnawbe created a community near Burleigh Falls in the early 1900s with five families from nearby Curve Lake First Nation who had lost their Indian status through enfranchisement.

The dam, which was originally constructed in 1912, is a part of the Trent-Severn Waterway, and is now a national historic site operated by Parks Canada.

The Parks Canada website indicates the dam is being fully rebuilt and construction is scheduled to be completed in the summer of 2024.

Indigenous Services Canada said in an email Kawartha Nishnawbe is not recognized as an Indian Act band.

The community’s lawyer, Christopher Reid disagrees and has been exchanging emails with Parks Canada and the federal government.

“They took away status from these people and forced them off reserves, forced them to establish a separate community on their own where they literally cleared the land, built their homes without any assistance and built their community.”

Public safety

David Britton, director of Ontario Waterways with Parks Canada, said in a statement Parks Canada has offered to meet with the Kawartha Nishnawbe on the Burleigh Falls Dam replacement project both in 2016 and more recently to understand their concerns regarding the potential impacts of the project.

Britton confirms Parks Canada has met with Curve Lake First Nation and other Williams Treaties First Nations on the first phase of the project and is working to develop fisheries monitoring and mitigation plans.

Zhaawnong Webb, Nodin Webb and Jack Hoggarth at the blockade near the Burleigh Falls Dam construction site. (Submitted by Amanda Seager)

He also explained that in its current condition, the dam poses a risk.

“A significant void at the base of the dam undermines the dam’s structural integrity, and is cause for concern regarding both public safety, and the protection of properties and species, including an important walleye fishery.”

Webb denied there have been any offers of consultation but in email correspondence provided to CBC by Reid, Parks Canada offered to meet and share its plans with the Kawartha Nishnawbe in three separate messages.

Reid indicated the level of consultation offered by Britton and Parks Canada is different than that received by Curve Lake First Nation.

He said in a statement, “offering to meet is not nearly the same thing as engaging in the kind of consultations which are legally required and which they held with communities which have much less connection to Burleigh Falls than Kawartha Nishnawbe.”

Emily Whetung, chief of Curve Lake, wrote in a statement, “We recognize that the complicated history of the Kawartha Nishinawbe, their relationship to the land at Burleigh Falls, and their assertion with the federal government, and we respect that they have an independent perspective.

“However, the Burleigh Dam is located within the recognized pre-Confederation and Williams Treaties Territory, and we feel a responsibility to protect the environment and species in the area as the reconstruction project moves forward.”

By: Sean Vanderklis, Rhiannon Johnson · CBC News · Posted: Jan 21, 2021.

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Manitoba protesters stand with Six Nations, fight promised anti-blockade law

A demonstration along Highway 75 near Morris, Man., lasted roughly 2½ hours on Friday. (Patrick Foucault/Radio-Canada)

More than a dozen people protested along Highway 75 in Morris, Man., Friday afternoon

Demonstrators gathered in Morris, Man., on Friday, standing in solidarity with the 1492 Land Back Lane camp in Ontario and protesting the Manitoba government’s throne speech promise to introduce anti-blockade legislation.

“We’ve come together to protest, to show solidarity with Six Nations in Ontario and Land Back Lane camp,” said Harrison Powder, one of more than a dozen people at the protest on Highway 75 at the south end of Morris.

“Those people have been arrested there … while they’re trying to defend their treaty rights.”

Members from the Haudenosaunee community of Six Nations set up the camp in July on an area of land in Caledonia, Ont., slated to become a subdivision, but which people at the encampment say is stolen, unceded Haudenosaunee territory.

Ontario Provincial Police have arrested demonstrators at the site. On Friday, an Ontario Superior Court judge gave the camp until Oct. 22 to vacate the land before he rules on making an injunction against their presence permanent.

Powder said Friday was a national day of action for communities across Canada to stand in support of the 1492 Land Back Lane camp.

“We’re not the only community [and] we’re not the only groups who are protesting,” he said. “It’s happening across the country right now.”

Demonstration to fight promised anti-blockade law

The demonstration, which lasted roughly 2½ hours, was also a protest of legislation promised by Manitoba’s Progressive Conservative government that would restrict future blockades.

The government announced its intention to bring forward the new law in its throne speech earlier this week, saying the legislation will prevent “illegal protests and blockades,” referring to railway blockades earlier this year.

“There’s no way that this is designed to infringe on anyone’s right to lawful protest,” Premier Brian Pallister said at the time.

But Powder said that’s exactly what the law will do.

“The Charter of Rights guarantees us these rights … in Canada, to be able to protest bills, to express ourselves, to be able to … defend our communities,” he said.

In comments prior to the throne speech Wednesday, Pallister said blockades “take away” the rights of people they impact. Powder said Friday that’s incorrect.

“The most we do is disrupt the public for a few minutes,” he said.

In the case of prolonged blockades like the railway blockades earlier this year, Powder said people fighting government action are sometimes left with no other venue to make their voices heard.

“For us, you know, that’s the only way we get attention sometimes,” he said. “The public won’t pay attention, the politicians don’t pay attention to us, until we do something like blocking the railway. And that’s unfortunate.”

With files from Radio-Canada’s Patrick Foucault

By CBC News · Posted: Oct 09, 2020

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Police presence and blockades continue through weekend for protesters in Caldeonia

A camp of protesters reclaiming a housing development in Caledonia. (Photo: Johnny Mazza – CTV Kitchener) (Aug. 8, 2020)

CALEDONIA — Blockades and a heavy police presence in Caledonia have now stretched across five days into Sunday, as a group of protesters are reclaiming a housing development construction site.

OPP first moved in to the McKenzie Meadows location on Wednesday to enforce a court order and arrest nine people.

This was when the protesters started throwing large rocks at them and striking some of the officers, according to officials.

Police say officers responded by firing rubber bullets at the camp and add that no one was injured.

Another court order was approved Friday morning that would force the protesters to vacate all roadblocks and remove anything on the road.

Haldimand County OPP says it’s up to the court sheriff to determine whether the new order, which would also prevent more blockades on any roadways in the area, will be delivered.

The camp has been set up at McKenzie Meadows since mid-July and has halted the construction. Police say the court injunction was first read to the protestors last week.

Haldimand County says the land historically belonged to the Indigenous community, and was purchased by Foxgate Developments in 2015.

In 2019, an agreement was reached between Foxgate and the Six Nations Elected Council, which confirmed that Six Nations supported the development.

One of the protesters tells CTV News they do not support the agreement and calls it, ‘a slap in the face to our people for prime real estate to be given away’.

In a statement, Haldimand County Mayor Ken Hewitt says he does not support the protesters on the development.

On Saturday, both the protesters on the site and the police told CTV News they will stay where they are.

On Sunday, OPP tweeted that the Hwy. 6 in Caldeonia remains closed due to a demonstration.

CTV News Kitchener, Published Sunday, August 9, 2020

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Manitoba protesters blockade CN Rail line, demand RCMP leave Wet’suwet’en territory

About half a dozen protesters occupy a rail station along the CN line approximately seven kilometres west of Winnipeg. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

CN rail lines in B.C. and Ontario have also been blocked by Wet’suwet’en supporters in the last week

A Manitoba railway just outside Winnipeg is being blocked by a group of protesters to show support for the Wet’suwet’en in British Columbia, whose hereditary leaders are fighting construction of a pipeline through their traditional territory.

About a dozen protesters lit a fire Wednesday morning and are occupying an area near a crossing of a CN rail line about seven kilometres west of the Perimeter Highway, on Wilkes Avenue.

The protesters said they won’t end their demonstration until the RCMP leaves the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en people in B.C., where police arrested more than 20 people over the weekend who were blocking Coastal GasLink workers from accessing the traditional territory.

RCMP began enforcing a court order against those blocking construction on the pipeline last Thursday, sparking protests across the country.

“We’re here showing solidarity for other Indigenous people, for other Indigenous nations — First Nations whose territories were invaded by RCMP [and] Coastal GasLinks,” said Harrison Powder, one of the Manitoba blockade participants.

“They violated Indigenous laws, Indigenous lands, and Indigenous rights, and that kind of stuff has to be protested against. We have to stand up against that,” he said.

“We want the RCMP out of there.”

Harrison Powder said the group will continue to block the rail line until RCMP leave the Wet’suwet’en territory in B.C. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Earlier this week, hundreds of protesters filled Winnipeg’s downtown streets to show support for Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs who are trying to stop construction of the pipeline.

Blockades in other provinces have cancelled more than 150 Via Rail passenger trains and forced a similar number of freight trains to sit idle.

CN Rail’s president and CEO, J.J. Ruest, told CBC News on Tuesday that the protests threaten industry across the country, including the transport of everything from food to construction materials to natural resources.

On Wednesday, CN Rail said train movements in the area of the Manitoba protest are currently stopped.

“We are monitoring the situation and evaluating our legal options very closely,” a spokesperson said in an email.

While the blockade is focused on the CN line, protesters are set up a spot where it intersects with a CP Rail line.

CP Rail said it is monitoring the situation, but wouldn’t say if any of its trains would be affected.

‘A long time coming’

The Manitoba protesters, who gathered Wednesday as bitter winds made it feel as cold as –44, hope to send a message to the federal government, as well as RCMP and industry leaders.

“When you invade Indigenous territory, and you try to force pipelines on our people, there’s consequences to that, and this here today is one of those consequences,” said Powder.

“This has been a long time coming, these blockades. Our people have been saying for years ‘we can shut down this country, we can stop the economy, we can cause major economic damage’ — and it’s happening now.”

Both RCMP and CN Rail police were monitoring the blockade site on Wednesday. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

Both Manitoba RCMP and CN Rail police were at the blockade Wednesday. An RCMP spokesperson said officers were there to monitor the protest and keep the peace.

“The Manitoba RCMP has sent Division Liaison Team (DLT) officers to the protest site,” the spokesperson said in an email. “The role of the DLT officers is to establish a dialogue and maintain open and ongoing communication.”

Province will seek injunction

The Manitoba government said Wednesday it plans to seek a court injunction to end the blockade.

Premier Brian Pallister says the province’s Justice Department will seek to obtain an injunction and have it enforced within a few days.

He says he respects the rights of protesters, but laws need to be applied.

“The point is to make sure that we’re standing up for the freedoms and rights of all people, and not standing back while two-tier justice happens in our province,” Pallister told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

“As much as we will always respect the right of protesters to have a voice, they don’t have a veto and … they don’t have the right to put their rights ahead of everyone else and to disregard the laws of our province and country.”

By: Holly Caruk · CBC News · Posted: Feb 12, 2020

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14 arrested after RCMP breach Gitdumt’en checkpoint

RCMP have confirmed they arrested 14 people at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint.

On Monday the RCMP announced they were going to enforce a court injunction to allow Coastal GasLink access to the road and bridge near Houston, B.C.

The RCMP followed through at approximately 2:51 p.m. when several members of the Tactical and Emergency Response Teams forcefully breached the Gitdumt’en camp’s checkpoint.

When police went over top of the barricade there was a scuffle between the advancing RCMP and the first line of Gitdumt’en clan members.

Journalists say the land defenders who were protecting their territory were not armed.

Coastal GasLink, a subsidiary of TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., filed for an injunction against Unist’ot’en Camp last month.

According to Vice News, the barricade was built by organizers from the Gitdumt’en clan, one of five Wet’suwet’en clans, with the goal of protecting the Unist’ot’en camp from being raided, further up the road.

The Unist’ot’en camp established in 2010 was set up by members of the Wet’suwet’en Nation with support of Hereditary chiefs to prevent Coast GasLink workers from gaining access.

Monday’s arrests took place at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint on Morice West Forest Service Road for various offences, including alleged violations of an injunction order against the blockade, reports the National Observer.

Fourteen land defenders, including Molly Wickam, a spokesperson for the camp, were taken into police custody and the blockade dismantled.

RCMP say they entered the blockade, after a meeting with a number of hereditary chiefs and Coast GasLink failed to resolve the issue without police involvement.

Unist’ot’en camp now awaits an RCMP raid after the injunction was enforced at the Gitdumt’en checkpoint.

In a statement, RCMP addressed what police called “erroneous” reports that RCMP jammed communications in the area, and that the military was present during the police enforcement operation.

“We would like to clarify that both of these allegations are incorrect,” the statement says. “The area is extremely remote and even police had limited access to communication.”

A news release issued Sunday on behalf of Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs says all five Wet’suwet’en clans, including the Gitdumt’en, oppose the construction of oil and gas pipelines in their territory.

An elder arrested on Monday has already been released. The remainder of the arrestees were taken to Prince George to stand before a Justice of the Peace.