Native leaders divided on use of blockades

Last Updated: Friday, June 29, 2007 | 10:20 AM ET

CBC News

Aboriginal leaders were divided Friday on whether blockading roads and rail lines is the best way to draw attention to issues faced by First Nations people.

Protest leader Shawn Brant told reporters on Friday that the day of protest against aboriginal poverty and other problems is the only way to get the public's attention.
(CBC)

Police in Ontario shut down a section of busy Highway 401 between Toronto and Montreal, while Via and CN cancelled train services in the area in anticipation of blockades during a country-wide aboriginal day of action.

Shawn Brant, a Mohawk whose followers set up blockades across a rail line and secondary highway about 200 kilometres east of Toronto, said such actions are the only way to get the public's attention.

"We feel the concerns and frustration they have. It's a similar frustration we have every day when we drink polluted water and when we bury children who commit suicide," he said. "We live a life of disruption.

"We feel it's only been through these type of actions that First Nations issues have been made a priority for Canadians, and have elevated it in priorities for this government. We'll continue to push this button as long as we have outstanding issues and we'll continue to do it until there's some results."

Brant, facing a police arrest warrant on charges of mischief, said he would consider turning himself in when the day of protest ends late Friday.

Phil Fontaine says aboriginal Canadians face unacceptable living conditions.
(CBC)

"I'm certainly not going to do that before the end of the day and we'll make arrangements after that," said Brant, who spoke to reporters at a barricade west of Kingston, Ont. "I'm not really partial to living on the lam.

"I know there are consequences that have to be brought forward and ones that I have to bear. I'm obviously in a position where I've done that in the past and I have to accept responsibility for my actions."

Brant, a 43-year-old militant Mohawk, is out on bail on previous charges of mischief, disobeying a court order and breach of recognizance in connection with the blockade of the CN rail line April 20.

'Build bridges, not blockades,' AFN chief had urged

Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, didn't openly condemn Brant's latest actions, despite Fontaine's earlier call for peaceful protests "to build bridges, not blockades.

"We don't want to cause a major disruption in the lives of Canadians," Fontaine told CBC News on Friday. "We don’t want to disrupt the Canadian economy."

Fontaine said he believed most Canadians would understand aboriginals' frustrations with high poverty rates, deplorable living conditions, as well as health and education problems and decades of delays in resolving land claims.

"Canadians are fair-minded people," he said. "They know the situation as we've described in our communities is simply unacceptable."

Live 'life of disruption:' Brant

Brant acknowledged the pre-emptive police shutdown of Highway 401 and cancellation of Via and CN rail services stole some of the thunder from the protests, but said police did it for reasons of public safety.

He said the demonstrations have been successful in disrupting the economy.

Via Rail cancelled train service Friday between Toronto and Montreal.
(CBC)

"There's about $118 million a day in freight that passes down this train line and there's a great deal of commerce that travels down the 401, so I guess if we're evaluating on a monetary sense … certainly we've been successful in our campaign."

Brant said he intended to keep the day of action peaceful, and aboriginals weren't trying to "poke our finger in the public's eye."

He said the issue of aboriginal poverty is "intensely personal" because of the deaths of his twin daughters. Brant said his heavily pregnant wife had an accident while pulling water from a well because they had no running water.

Actions shed 'negative' light: aboriginal leader

However, the chief of a national aboriginal organization said road and rail blockades won't help educate Canadians about the complex issues his people face on a daily basis.

"It's unfortunate we have to see the protests today and see small pockets of people disrupt the lives of Canadians on this long weekend," said Chief Patrick Brazeau, head of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples.

Chief Patrick Brazeau, of the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, seen in a photo from last year, doesn't support protest leader Shawn Brant or his actions, saying the law should apply equally to all Canadians.
(Andrew Vaughn/ Canadian Press)

"It does shed a negative light on aboriginal peoples and we're just here to say that's not the voice of all the aboriginal population in Canada."

The group, which represents about 150,000 aboriginals living off-reserve, is not participating in the day of action.

"We have concerns about protests being used as a tactic to raise awareness," he said. "We have to ask Canadians to be patient today to ensure no lives are lost or disrupted."

Those comments were echoed by Rick Simon, Atlantic chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

"We don't think that we need to be standing on the highway to get our message across," he said after a meeting in Membertou, in Cape Breton.

Learn from our past: Brazeau

Past violent protests haven't changed anything, said Brazeau, citing the 1990 standoff in Oka, Que., and the 1995 clash in Ipperwash, Ont., that left a police officer and aboriginal protester dead.

"Seventeen years later, we find ourselves in the same situation," he said. "We as leaders have to look at ourselves in the mirror and do a better … collective job at educating Canadians."

Brazeau said he doesn't support Brant or his actions, saying the law should apply equally to all Canadians.

"In terms of Mr. Brant, we don't know who he represents. He's not an elected leader," he said. "As far as we're concerned, this individual does not represent the majority of the people that he claims to speak on behalf of.

"I believe there has to be the same set of rules for all Canadians, aboriginal or not. When people go this far in disrupting the lives of Canadians, I think that police forces should step in."