MP Says Northern Leaders Watching Standoff

MP Says Northern Leaders Watching Standoff

Thursday, April 20, 2006 at 13:46

 

 

Liberal MP Gary Merasty says a scene like the one near Hamilton, Ontario today could easily happen in his riding in northern Saskatchewan.

 

Merasty says northern leaders are watching a standoff by Aboriginal protesters in Caledonia with interest.

 

Several protesters were arrested early this morning when Ontario Provincial Police conducted a pre-dawn raid of a protest camp that had been in place for six weeks.

 

Six Nations members had been staging the occupation at a construction site in protest of a development they say infringes on their land.

 

A judge recently granted an injunction to have the protesters removed, and the police chose to enforce it this morning.

 

Now, more protesters have arrived in defiance of the police action, and have set up barricades in the area.

 

Merasty says Aboriginal leaders have had enough of governments and industry extracting resources or using land in their traditional territory.

 

He notes the Clearwater River Dene Nation staged a blockade a few years ago over a similar issue, and he feels this sort of unrest won’t go away until governments start respecting some high court decisions regarding traditional lands.

 

Merasty says the Supreme Court has ruled more than once that governments have the legal responsibility to consult with Native groups over industrial activity, and to address their concerns.