Canada urges end to rail blockade as police leave indigenous land

MONTREAL: The Canadian government called Thursday for indigenous demonstrators to halt railroad blockades set up as part of a pipeline protest, as police withdrew from their traditional lands in a conciliatory gesture.

For approximately two weeks, demonstrators across Canada, many of them from the country’s indigenous groups, have protested in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people in British Columbia, bringing passenger and freight traffic to a halt in eastern Canada. The Wet’suwet’en are upset over a proposed gas pipeline that would stretch across their territory and have made withdrawal of police from their land a prerequisite for any negotiation with the government.

“We have said we believe the conditions for resolution of this have been met. We have said we believe it’s time for those

We have said we believe the conditions for resolution of this have been met. We have said we believe it’s time for those blockades to come down. Bill Blair

blockades to come down,” Bill Blair, Canada’s minister of public safety, said during an interview with broadcaster CBC.

He added that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s decision to withdraw from the Wet’suwet’en people’s land “was made completely independent of and on their own based on their assessment of their legal responsibilities and the situation on the ground.”

“They believe this is the appropriate thing to do,” he said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been pressured by his political opponents to lift the blockades, met Thursday afternoon with the leaders of Canada’s provinces to discuss the crisis. He has called for a peaceful solution, particularly in light of previous conflicts between indigenous Canadian peoples and police, which have ended in bloodshed.

A total of 647 trains have been cancelled due to the blockades which have affected more than 117,000 passengers, according to figures provided by Via Rail, Canada’s public passenger rail service. — AFP