June 29, 2007 - 12:35am
DESERONTO, Ont. (CP) - Police shut down a stretch of Canada's busiest highway late Thursday as armed Mohawk protesters expanded their threatened blockades in eastern Ontario.
The protesters encamped near Deseronto, west of Kingston, blocked the CN Rail line, the main line between Toronto and Montreal late Thursday night. They used another bus to block secondary Highway 2 and said it was only a matter of time before they shut down Highway 401.
Ontario Provincial Police then shut down the 401 just before midnight as protesters prepared to shut down the four-lane highway.
A police spokesman said they shut down the busy highway for "safety reasons".
The demonstrators had said say they would ignore calls for peaceful protest on Friday's national aboriginal day of action.
As the Mohawks assembled outside Deseronto on Thursday night, there were reports that dozens of provincial police cruisers had arrived in the nearby city of Napanee.
Mohawk leader Shawn Brant says his supporters are armed and are prepared to "meet force with force" if police intervene.
“Most certainly, they shouldn’t challenge us or question our resolve.”
Brant says the time to educate Canadians through peaceful rallies has passed.
“We want government to know, and the rest of this country, that we’re prepared to make commitments and sacrifices to ensure a safe, healthy environment in which our children can live — and a future that they can look forward to. Maybe then, they’ll stop committing suicide.”
Ontario Police Chief Julian Fantino singled out Brant at a news conference in
“He is, I think a one -off and we will have to deal with that depending on what Mr. Brant does,” Fantino said.
“We’re prepared to discuss things with Mr. Brant, we have done that before. But at the end of the day, there is accountability for one’s actions as well and he will be held accountable.”
In the Maritimes, members of the Mi’kmaq Nation threatened a blockade of the Nova Scotia-New Brunswick boundary on Highway 104.
“It is the sovereign right of the independent Mi’kmaq Nation to disrupt or prevent any transportation through the territory,” organizers said in a statement.
Fantino said anarchists distract from the legitimacy of native land claims.
“We can’t allow the hijacking of that legitimate cause by those who are intent on creating anarchy or who are intent of creating lawlessness in our country,” he said.
The threats of blockades were in stark contrast to calls from aboriginal chiefs who called for peaceful protests and a day of reflection.
“We know there is frustration; we feel it, ” Phil Fontaine, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told a news conference in
“Tomorrow, however, we intend to undertake the educational process, we will be asking all Canadians to learn about our people.”
In anticipation of the blockade, Via Rail suspended Friday’s passenger train service between the highly-travelled Montreal-Toronto and Ottawa-Toronto corridor, on the first day of one of the busiest weekends of the summer.
The southern
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said he had spoken to the province’s aboriginal leaders, and everyone had agreed the day should go ahead “without incident.”
Friday is about grievances aboriginal communities have with the federal government, not the province, he said.
“I remain hopeful that this national day of action will proceed in a peaceful and respectful way,” McGuinty said, adding it will be up to provincial police to deal with any blockades or illegal activity.
Marie Trainer, mayor of
Trainer said everyone was hoping the day would go by without any of the violent clashes the occupation has sparked in the past.
“I’m sure there will be a couple of spots that are hot, but I’m hoping ours isn’t,” Trainer said.
Brant and his Mohawks amassed at a quarry about two kilometres south of Highway 401 that Brant occupied last March.
Brant said he would remain there until the
Negotiations with the federal government have dragged over the last four years, Brant says.
Dale Welsh of Deseronto drives by the occupied quarry, with Mohawk flags snapping in the breeze, a few times a week.
“If everybody would just get together and settle things, we wouldn’t have a problem,” he said.
People in town are worried about property values and bad headlines, said Welsh, 60.
Then again, he can see the Mohawk point of view.
“I’d be mad if somebody came in and infringed on my land.”