Frank Armstrong
Kingston Whig-Standard
Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - 00:00
Local news - A preliminary inquiry for a Mohawk activist accused of mischief and breaching his bail conditions by leading two railway blockades and disrupting traffic on Highway 401 earlier this year began yesterday.
Shawn Brant, 43, faces nine criminal charges in relation to the disruptions - one in April in the Napanee area and three in June in the Deseronto area.
Mohawks and their supporters ran a 30-hour blockade on the CN Rail tracks in Napanee on April 20 to protest the operation of a gravel quarry on land subject to negotiations between the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte and the federal government.
They blocked the CN tracks again on June 28 and 29 as part of a national aboriginal day of action on June 29 to bring attention to problems faced in First Nations communities, such as poor water quality, poverty and high youth suicide rates. They blocked Highway 2 near Deseronto and forced police to close off a stretch of Highway 401.
Security was unusually tight at yesterday's hearing in Napanee Court.
Spectators and witnesses entering the court had their bags searched and about six uniformed OPP officers guarded the stairs and waiting area outside the courtroom. The officers also made people turn out their pockets and swept a metal detector over each person.
Peter Rosenthal, Brant's Toronto lawyer, pointed out that unlike his client's last court appearance when more than 100 supporters attended a failed bail application, few of Brant's supporters came to court for him yesterday.
Rosenthal said they were too intimidated to show up after the Aug. 10 hearing, when spectators were made to show photo ID and provide their date of birth and were videotaped doing so. He accused police of abusing their authority while conducting security.
"Security is acceptable in this day and age, but making people write down their names and numbers is not," Rosenthal said outside the courthouse. "When they do things like that, make people write down their name, address and birthday and videotape them, they want to investigate supporters of Mr. Brant, not do security."
Brant has been behind bars since July 5. He had been out on bail after being arrested for the April railway blockade.
He's alleged to have violated a condition of his bail that forbade him from inciting or participating in illegal protests that blocked thoroughfares.
Justice D.K. Kirkland decided Brant couldn't be trusted to respect the courts and locked him away while legal proceedings continue.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to last three days. It is intended to satisfy the judge as to whether there is enough evidence for Brant to stand trial in a higher court.
Brant has elected to be tried by judge and jury.
When the preliminary hearing wraps up tomorrow afternoon, Rosenthal said he will again appeal to the court to let his client out on bail.
Rosenthal has compared Brant to Martin Luther King.
A civil rights lawyer and mathematics professor at University of Toronto, Rosenthal, told the Whig-Standard he took Brant's case because he believes in Brant's stated mission to create awareness of aboriginal poverty and oppression.
"In my view, the protest that they did was very justified in light of the horrors that have been done to them," he said. "I hope the Canadian government starts to really rectify some of those injustices so that protests are not required in the future."
Several Crown witnesses presented evidence at yesterday's hearing, including lead investigator OPP Det. Const. Doug Weiss and Sgt. Kristine Rae, community services co-ordinator for the OPP in Eastern Ontario.
Managers from CN Rail also took the stand, but no evidence can be published because evidence at preliminary inquiries is generally forbidden under publication bans.
The hearing continues today.
OPP commissioner Julian Fantino is expected to testify tomorrow.
Brant's trial date may be set this week.