B.C. First Nation plans picket on Trans-Canada Highway

July 10, 2007
Canadian Press

LYTTON, B.C. (CP) - Travellers on the Trans-Canada Highway near Lytton might be facing some delays Tuesday as members of the Lytton First Nation mount an information picket.

The band is upset by the shutdown since late April of the Lytton ferry service because of a strike by highway-maintenance workers. The ferry across the Fraser River is the only link between the Lytton reserve and the town.

With the shutdown, they're now forced to make a four-hour detour on logging road or illegally walk across an elevated railway bridge.

The band wants the government to declare the ferry an essential service.

The band says in a release it was never properly consulted to reflect the appropriate essential-service level for the ferry.

Last month, aboriginals blocked the Trans-Canada Highway and adjacent railway line east of Toronto as part of a national day of action.