Ontario judge extends ban on rail blockades
Last Updated: Thursday, May 17, 2007 | 2:22 PM ET
CBC News
Related
A court order that ended an aboriginal blockade of a major Ontario rail line in April has been extended, temporarily banning further rail blockades in eastern Ontario.
On Thursday, an Ontario Superior Court judge granted a request from CN Rail to extend the order used to end a Mohawk land dispute protest that started in the early hours of April 20 and disrupted freight and passenger traffic on the Toronto-Ottawa and Toronto-Montreal rail corridors for 30 hours.
Peter Rosenthal, a lawyer for protesters' main spokesman Shawn Brant, said the defence was not prepared to properly respond to details of CN's application for a longer injunction.
Both sides are to return to court in coming months to discuss the extension of the order.
Chief, band council removed from lawsuit
CN Rail is also suing Brant and a number of others to try and recover money it says it lost during the blockade by protesters from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
However, CN said this week that the band's chief and the band council are no longer named in the lawsuit, as the company has received sworn evidence that they neither authorized nor approved the blockade.
Brant and other demonstrators set up the blockade as part of an ongoing protest over privately owned land near Deseronto that the Tyendinaga Mohawks claim is theirs.
The band council is in talks with a federally appointed negotiator regarding the land claim, but the protesters say those are proceeding too slowly.
With files from the Canadian PressShare Tools
Latest Ottawa News Headlines
- Canadian woman continues tweeting her way to the top of Everest
- Sandra Leduc is taking a second run at Mount Everest's summit after a deadly storm forced her back down the mountain and killed four others on Sunday. The Canadian lawyer and government worker is tweeting her progress along the way. more »
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Memorial held at Eric Leighton's high school
- A memorial is being held today at Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School where Grade 12 student Eric Leighton was killed in a shop class explosion one year ago. more »
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Women jogging along the Rideau Canal in Ottawa might want to rethink that ponytail. It seems to be making them a target for blackbirds nesting in the area. more »
Top News Headlines
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Raw stories about bullying emerged when a video booth was set up inside a Quebec high school. more »
- Reclaiming the dead on Mt. Everest

- The difficulty, danger and expense of removing the bodies of climbers who died in Mount Everest's "death zone" mean most of the dead remain on the mountain as a stark reminder to other climbers of the risks. more »
- Canada closing consulate in Buffalo, N.Y.
- The federal government is shutting down the Canadian consulate in Buffalo and dropping a requirement for foreign workers and students to renew their visas outside the country, CBC News has learned. more »
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur
- Two Toronto police sergeants face disciplinary hearings after a watchdog agency found they illegally arrested two journalists during the G20 summit and that one officer hurled homophobic slurs. more »
Most Viewed/Commented
- New mom among dead in Aylmer triple stabbing
- Gatineau police to question suspect in multiple homicides
- Birds attack Ottawa joggers
- Woman pinned between forklifts in Ottawa warehouse
- Teens share bullying tales in confession booth
- Ottawa race weekend road closures
- Double-lung recipient Hélène Campbell dances for joy
- Victim named in Queensway rollover crash
- G20 police illegally arrested journalists, used gay slur

