Updated Sat. Apr. 21 2007 9:23 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
An aboriginal blockade that has disrupted passenger and freight train traffic between Montreal and Toronto has now ended, and the busy corridor is expected to reopen.
The school bus blocking the CN and Via Rail line near Deseronto in eastern Ontario was removed early Saturday morning, 24-hours after it was put into place on Friday, said Shawn Brant, a spokesperson for the demonstrators.
The rail lines were blockaded by the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte in protest of a developer's plan to build condos using materials from a quarry that lies on land the natives claim belongs to them. Negotiations are underway to try and resolve the dispute.
The blockade was intended to stay up for 48 hours, but was removed over fears the situation would become violent, Brant told CTV Newsnet.
However, he warned that more demonstrations are planned and the actions will likely become more aggressive in nature as time goes on.
"As scary as this sounds, it's an escalating campaign. The track was the first. We consider that a soft hit and from there we will be escalating this campaign according to the province's action or inaction."
Deseronto Mayor Norm Clark said the removal of the blockade is a step forward for the community.
"Naturally I'm pleased," he told CTV Newsnet. "I heard late last night the possibility was there that they were going to remove themselves from the track, so I'm really happy they've done that and we can go on with the business of trying to resolve this issue."
Clark said ongoing disputes have "put a cloud over Deseronto," with several developers taking their projects out of the town, a drop in tourism and divisions developing between natives and non-natives.
I haven't heard anybody disputing or complaining about the land claim itself. What the complaints are about is all the demonstrations and the disruptions these demonstrations cause to people," Clark said.
"People can't understand that. Now that negotiations are underway, they don't understand why the demonstrations have to take place."
At one point during the blockade, billows of black smoke could be seen rising from the blockade and emergency fire crews were called to the scene.
"The track was one of the targets on a list because the quarry issues have not been resolved;'' protest leader Shawn Brant told The Canadian Press on Friday.
The plan was to "close the tracks for 48 hours,'' he said, despite being served with a court order to vacate the area.
Chief of the Tyendinaga Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte maintains both sides are negotiating and advocating for a peaceful resolution of the claim.
"The process may take a long time but that is the only process that we have to work with -- negotiating a resolution," Don Maracle told CTV Newsnet on Friday.
"There are a number of parties that have to be consulted and a number of studies that have to be done and it will take time."
"I implore everyone to have patience and to give the negotiating table a chance to work," Maracle said.
The federal government has appointed a land-claims negotiator to resolve the dispute. But protesters say the negotiations are taking too much time.