About a dozen protesters took over the tracks in Marysville, near Kingston, around 4:30 p.m., forcing VIA Rail to dispatch 20 buses to transport passengers to their respective destinations, which included Toronto’s Union Station, Ottawa and Montreal.
The Marysville blockade was one of a series of nationwide demonstrations in which protesters blocked bridges, roads and train tracks on Saturday. Their collective hope: To kill the federal government’s Bill C-45, which they say is a breach of First Nations treaty rights.
Ontario Provincial Police said that while protesters don’t have the right to stop trains, they are legally allowed to demonstrate.
“We recognize that they have the right to peaceful protest, and our responsibility is keeping the peace,” said Ontario Provincial Police Sgt. Kristine Rae. “We had to weigh the situation. We have an open dialogue going on.”
Liam Mitchell, 33, had his Toronto-bound train delayed for 45 minutes due to the blockade. “It’s a minor inconvenience for a much bigger issue,” Mitchell said.
After more than seven hours at the tracks, protesters in Marysville ended their demonstration by midnight Saturday, Rae confirmed. VIA Rail service is expected to run Sunday as scheduled without bus detours.
Last Sunday, protesters halted 12 trains near Belleville, affecting about 2,500 travellers.
In Oshawa, more than a hundred Idle No More protesters seized a Highway 401 overpass around noon. The location was chosen to attract attention from drivers on the highway below, said protest organizer Jesse Cullen, 27.
“It was pretty successful; we had enough people to shut down the bridge for 45 minutes because the crowds spilled out to the road,” said Cullen, who has Métis heritage.
An elder in attendance conducted a smudging ceremony and blessed police officers who helped shut down Albert St.
After the peaceful demonstration, protesters headed to a local café to plan their next move — a march to Oshawa MP Colin Carrie’s office on Jan. 12, the day after Chief Theresa Spence will meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Spence has been on a hunger strike since Dec. 11 in protest of the bill.
“(The protests) didn’t start with a hunger strike by Chief Spence,” Cullen said. “There’s a need to carry on the discussion after the Jan. 11 meeting.”
Traffic on Hwy. 403 in Hamilton idled for a half-hour as 250 protesters marched down the King St. W. on-ramp, beating drums and carrying signs that challenged Bill C-45.
In Sarnia, traffic on the Blue Water Bridge linking Ontario to Michigan halted completely for just over an hour in the afternoon as about 250 protesters marched onto Highway 402 and blocked it in support of hunger strikes by chiefs and elders across Canada.
The protesters, carrying signs protesting Conservative environmental policies and supporting the Idle No More movement, walked peacefully onto the highway, which links the bridge to Highway 401, from nearby Point Edward, following a convoy of cars and a truck carrying native drummers and singers.
Under the watchful eye of OPP officers, the blockaders began their march Saturday morning from a snowy, windswept spot by the St. Clair River directly under the bridge. Organizers first held an aboriginal water ceremony near a monument dedicated to the memory of native ancestors and then drove and marched to the bridge entrance.
OPP officers warned the organizers that their actions were illegal but offered their protection if the protesters followed an agreed-to route. The marchers waited impatiently at the bridge entrance for about 10 minutes while the OPP closed the highway. A police vehicle that had been parked across the entrance was pulled back by officers, clearing the way for the march to proceed.
As overhead signs at the bridge toll booths flashed, the bridge was closed. Protesters chanted “why are we waiting” and “idle no more” while listening to speakers from the Aamjiwnaang First Nation in Sarnia.
The bridge protest is only part of a campaign to “shut down the Chemical Valley,” the complex of oil refineries and chemical plants south of the city, said Ron Plain, who helped organize the recent 13-day blockade of a CN Rail line serving area industries.
Members of the protest movement also plan to blockade the bridge again in the spring, he said.
Plain said he faces a possible $180,000 legal bill from CN if he doesn’t plead guilty to contempt of court charges brought by the rail firm for failing to end the blockade sooner.
“I’m not pleading guilty to this. I’ll take it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada,” he told the Star. “I’m ready to take it on the chin for the youth of this community, who have to live with the results of Stephen Harper’s actions,” he told the crowd.
Bill C-45 includes amendents to the Indian Act that will affect the leasing of reserve lands, as well as changes that will remove federal protection for some lakes and streams.
“It’s important that the people of Sarnia understand why we are here,” said Aamjiwnaang band councillor John Adams. “This Bill C-45 affects the land, air, and water that our sovereign people look after. The government has no right to change these things without talking to us. We’re here for everybody’s rights, not just for native people.”
The demonstration ended peacefully and no major traffic tie-ups were reported either on the 402 or on city streets.
Earlier Saturday, police in Cornwall closed the Seaway International Bridge as a public safety precaution.
It’s unclear when the usually busy toll bridge, which connects the eastern Ontario city and Akwesasne, Ont., to Massena, N.Y., will be reopened.
Sgt. Marc Bissonnette of the Cornwall detachment said about 100 to 150 demonstrators were marching on the bridge.
Similar demonstrations were held at several other locations, including the Peace Arch crossing in Surrey, B.C., the Peace Bridge between Fort Erie and Buffalo, and the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge in Niagara Falls.
Police in Ontario have warned travellers to plan ahead because some roads and highways in these areas may face longer than usual traffic delays due to the demonstrations.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Graham Slaughter and Colin Graf
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