Native group promises new protests

Barry Ellsworth
Local News - Monday, April 23, 2007
Belleville Intelligencer

More disruptions like the CN rail line barricade may be on the way, warns native protest leader Shawn Brant.

The tracks were barely clear of an old school bus that had thwarted rail transportation for 30 hours when Brant talked of future actions.

Brant couldn't be reached for comment by telephone or at the quarry that serves as protest headquarters - he and some other protesters were in a meeting Sunday evening.

Recent news reports say Brant has three potential targets in mind - the railway, provincial highways and the Town of Deseronto. A target has been picked but he did not name it, nor when it would be struck, except to say that plans were being finalized.

The renegade group - Brant and about two dozen followers staged Friday's blockade without the approval of Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte Chief Don Maracle or the band council - has retreated to the nearby quarry, which they seized about a month ago.

The quarry takeover and the rail blockade were instigated because of slow moving land claim negotiations with the federal government.

The quarry, which was the source of gravel for a condominium project in Deseronto by a Kingston developer, is part of a 930-acre Culbertson land tract the Mohawks say was illegally taken from them in 1832.

Brant said the quarry takeover and rail barricade were aimed at speeding up negotiations.

But federal Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice said the illegal actions have the opposite effect, that the talks could lose "momentum."

He said he was "disappointed" over the blockade. The protesters ignored a court injunction to clear the tracks and the OPP stood by but made no arrests or attempts to enforce the court order.

Prentice also made the point that native authorities did not sanction the blockade, a fact acknowledged by Brant.

"This is not an occupation that was endorse by the chief and council," Prentice said Friday.

Chief Maracle asserted that in a telephone conversation Sunday.

"The Tyendinaga Mohawk Council are not consulted ..." the chief said. "There has to be peace and order" for the negotiations to continue. Further disruptions could jeopardize the talks, Maracle said.

"The emphasis has to be on the solution."

Maracle said it was a huge step forward when Ottawa accepted the Mohawk claim and while it may take awhile at the negotiating table, that is the only way for the claim to be settled.

"We all have to be patient," he said.

Maracle is not the only local leader upset by the events of the past few days.

Deseronto Mayor Norm Clark said the protest is hurting his town.

"There is a black cloud hanging over Deseronto," he said Sunday. Developers have already said they are going to invest their money elsewhere, Clark added, and that affects businesses and could lead to a drop in housing values.

Clark said he understood and agreed with the native need to settle the land claim, but innocent people were paying the price for the blockade.

"I sympathize ... but the residents of Deseronto, we are not involved in it yet we are the ones to be penalized," Clark said.

Just after midnight Friday, protesters moved a converted camper bus onto the tracks and removed it at about 6 a.m. Saturday. Brant said the blockade ended because some community members felt it could escalate into a violent situation.

"It's an emotional issue," he conceded in talking with reporters at the blockade scene on Deseronto Road, late Friday afternoon.

Kristine Rae, spokeswoman for the OPP, said the blockade ended thanks to talks between the OPP, CN police and Maracle.

It was about a year ago that Brant and others blockaded the same rail line - the major route for freight and passengers between Toronto and Montreal - as a sign of solidarity with land-claim native protesters in Caledonia.