A scuffle between Mohawk pickets and Canadian Forces personnel near Deseronto, Ont., slowed traffic along Highway 2 on Wednesday afternoon.
Ontario Provincial Police reported that 20 to 30 pickets from the nearby Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory were blocking traffic on the highway about 80 kilometres west of Kingston shortly before 1 p.m.
The highway there is adjacent to a property that is the subject of a land claim dispute. It was originally slated for a housing development, but the Tyendinaga Territory Mohawks say it belongs to them.
Shawn Brant, a spokesman for the Mohawks at the site, said his group was there as part of an information campaign. Members of the group, called the Elders Council, were putting up signs to let the public know about their claim to the land.
Meanwhile, a group of Canadian Forces personnel was training nearby.
Brant said a small scuffle broke out between some pickets and some military personnel, and Mohawk police directed traffic around the situation.
The disruption to traffic lasted less than half an hour.
Construction was originally scheduled to begin Wednesday on a $30-million, 8.5-hectare waterfront subdivision at the disputed site.
Tyendinaga Territory Chief Don Maracle met last week with federal government officials to discuss the issue, and the development company has decided not to go ahead with the development.
Initially, news of proposed construction on disputed land stoked fears that it would lead to a situation similar to one in Caledonia, Ont. There, Six Nations protesters have occupied for more than eight months a site that was originally planned for a housing development.