by The Canadian Press Posted Feb 14, 2020 4:56 pm EST
VANCOUVER — Protesters around the country have blocked rail lines and
used other forms of civil disobedience to show support for the
hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation and their
fight against a natural gas pipeline.
Here is a look at some other disputes over the development of natural resources in recent Canadian history:
Temagami, Ont. — Long-running protests over logging
northeast of Sudbury led to arrests of demonstrators. The protests
included people locking themselves to road construction machinery in
an attempt to stop the extension of the Red Squirrel logging road.
Environmentalists argued the area was home to a rare stand of old-growth
pines. Among those arrested at one protest in 1989 was Bob Rae, who was
leader of the Opposition NDP in Ontario at the time and was
demonstrating his support for environmentalists and members of the
Teme-Augama Anishnabai First Nation.
Oka, Que. — An armed standoff in Oka between Mohawks and the Canadian army ended on Sept. 26, 1990, after 11 weeks. The conflict partly stemmed from the town of Oka’s plan to expand a golf course on land the Mohawks claimed. After a failed July 11 police raid in which an officer was killed, Mohawks at the Kahnawake reserve south of Montreal blocked the Mercier Bridge that connects Montreal to its populous south-shore suburbs in a show of support. Trouble later erupted near the Kahnawake reserve shortly after the events at Oka, when a crowd of 400 to 500 bat-toting and rock-launching Mohawk protesters threatened soldiers. By the end, army officials had taken 34 men, 16 women and six young people into custody. In the aftermath of the standoff, Ottawa appointed a royal commission on Aboriginal issues.
See full list at CityNews.ca …
