Backlogs could take months to clear up
Anti-pipeline rallies spread as concerns for violence mount
Transportation Minister Marc Garneau warned Wednesday that even if a solution can be found to end rail blockades across Canada — which appeared elusive — the damage they have done would take weeks or even months to undo.
Railway blockades began early this month and new barricades have sprung up at different sites across the country, with commuter trains in the Toronto area halted Wednesday and freight traffic still moving at a glacial pace.
Garneau said it will take a long time to clear up backlogs and bring the system back to normal.
“Even if the barricades all came down tomorrow and the trains worked very hard to get back up to speed, some of these effects are going to be felt for weeks and months to come,” he said.
“There are 50 grain ships on the west coast waiting to pick up grain,” the minister said, adding that CN Rail told the government three days ago that there are 184 trains parked and unable to move.
“If you lined all that up you would go from here in Ottawa past Montreal end to end. That's a lot of stuff that needs to move.”
Garneau's warnings come as the blockades seem to be spreading and becoming more entrenched.
The protests erupted earlier this month over the Coastal Gaslink pipeline in northern British Columbia.
The pipeline has the support of elected band councils in the Wet'suwet'en territory, but is opposed by hereditary chiefs, who were removed from a protest camp by the RCMP after a court injunction to clear the area was issued.
The chiefs have demanded that the RCMP leave Wet'suwet'en territory. The force has agreed to remove a temporary detachment in the area, but says it plans to continue to patrol the area from a nearby community.
Hereditary Wet'suwet'en Chief Woos, who also goes by Frank Alec, said last week that a partial pullback was not enough. Woos said they want a very clear retreat from the RCMP.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said that is a non-starter for the government, which is not going to agree to stop policing any specific area.
“There is no place in British Columbia or anywhere in Canada where the citizens or Canadians will be deprived of the services of police,” Blair said. “Literally, thousands of Canadians that live in that area are entitled to policing services. They are entitled as every Canadian is to be served and protected by a police service.”
One of the most significant blockades near Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, east of Toronto, was dismantled Monday by Ontario Provincial Police, but protesters at another camp nearby interfered with trains by lighting fires near the tracks.
Garneau said that action is incredibly dangerous.
“It's something that not only put in danger the life of the people who were actually lighting this fire under a moving train, but also could have been dangerous for many people,” he said.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault says the presence of dangerous assault rifles in Kahnawake is reason for caution before enforcing an injunction to end a rail blockade in the Mohawk community, south of Montreal.
Legault told reporters in Quebec City the government has information from what he called “good sources” that there are AK-47S in Kahnawake.
He says Warriors on the reserve are armed, and the situation is very delicate.
Indigenous leaders said those reports were false and there were no weapons at the camp.
The premier says he will leave it to the provincial police to develop a strategy to officially serve the injunction issued Tuesday to people at the blockade.
Legault says he is disclosing the information on the alleged weapons because he wants the public to understand why provincial police have not yet moved in. He says he does not want to have it on his conscience that police officers were injured in an intervention.
Crown Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said she was in contact with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs and was hopeful a solution could be reached.
She said the government was hopeful that if the chiefs would agree to a meeting, it would be a sign to their supporters that it is time to stand down.