Straight Talk

Ontario Provincial Police give Tyendinaga Mohawks a deadline to remove camp near CN Rail line

by Charlie Smith on February 23rd, 2020 at 6:59 PM
    1 of 2 2 of 2

      Mohawk activists in Ontario have been given an ultimatum two days after Justin Trudeau declared that rail blockades must come down.

      Ontario Provincial Police have ordered sympathizers of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to remove a camp by midnight, Ontario time (9 p.m. Pacific standard time).

      Police say that if they leave the area beside a CN Rail line near Belleville, Ontario, they won't be charged.

      But that message is not necessarily going to be heeded by those who've engaged in this direct action of solidarity over the past 18 days.

      Mohawk land defender Andrew Brant told CTV News that the camp will not be removed tonight.

      "We're members of the Mohawk Nation," Brant told CTV anchor Akshay Tandon. "We'll stand up and we'll stand proud."

      Ontario Provincial Police say if the camp is gone by midnight Ontario time, there will be no criminal charges.

      Tyendinaga Mohawks set up barricades after the Gidimt'en clan and Unist'ot'en house of the Wet'suwet'en Nation issued a call for support following RCMP raids on their traditional unceded territory earlier this month.

      The RCMP arrests came after Coastal GasLink obtained a B.C. Supreme Court injunction to allow its $6.6-billion project to be built across this unceded land without the consent of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs.

      The hereditary chiefs have said that the pipeline is illegal under Wet'suwet'en law. And they've pointed to the Delgamuukw decision in the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997 to justify their position.

      According to Canada's highest court, Aboriginal title was not extinguished when B.C. joined Confederation in 1871.

      Here's how a former lawyer, Peggy Blair, described what's on the videotape above:

      This weekend, Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' supporters also set up blockades along rail lines in Saskatoon and Vancouver.

      Update

      On February 24, Ontario Provincial Police began arresting people at the Mohawks' camp in Ontario. For more information, read this article.

      Comments