Arrests, travel disruptions as Wet'suwet'en solidarity protests spread across Canada

Transportation disruptionsspread across the country Tuesday, as demonstrators continuedto protest in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who oppose a $6-billion natural gas pipeline projectin northern B.C.

A day after policedescended ona rail blockade near Belleville, Ont., arresting 10 protesters, new disturbances popped up across the country in response, including in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

Fresh blockades caused major delays on the Greater Toronto Area's GO Transit system as the busy afternoon rush hour got underway Tuesday.

A spokesperson for regional transit agencyMetrolinx, which operates the popular commuter rail line, saidat least three routes were experiencing significant slowdowns, causing crowding at Union Station, a major travel hub in downtown Toronto.

Service was also affected on a route west of the city earlier Tuesday,with police in Hamilton servingacourt injunctionto protesters who set up a blockade along rail lines there.

About a dozen people, including some from the Six Nations of the Grand River,had gathered on the tracks, affecting GO train service between Hamilton and Niagara Falls. The blockade temporarily forced the cancellationof serviceat the Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, Hamilton or West Harbour stations and alsoaffected CN and CP rail service.

AFacebook page called "Wet'suwet'en Strong: Hamilton in Solidarity" saidthe protesters shut down the rail lines because of the "violence perpetrated towards Indigenous land defenders and their supporters" and the "forced removaland criminalization of Indigenous people from their lands."

The protesters had peacefully left the site by Tuesday evening, Hamilton police said.

In nearby Caledonia, Ont., protesters hadalso blocked a section ofHighway 6.

Colleen Davis, a member of the Mohawk Nation (Bear Clan), said the highway will be blocked until the demands of the Wet'suwet'en are met.

"The onus is now on Justin Trudeau, on the OPP, on the RCMP to withdraw from our territories," she said.

Arrests in B.C.

In British Columbia, nearly two dozen people were arrested after refusing to leave blockades across the province on Tuesday.Demonstrations were taking place at the Port of Vancouver, the ceremonial front stepsto the B.C. Legislature and some rural rail lines across the province.

Six people were taken into custody after police moved to clear a key entrance to the Port of Vancouver early Tuesday afternoon.

Three others were arrested after blocking a CP Rail line in the B.C. Interior. RCMP arrested 14 moredemonstrators, including a hereditary chief, near New Hazelton, B.C., overnight.

Thosethree blockades have since ended, though the demonstration at the B.C. Legislature in Victoria continues.

Protests expand in Quebec

Anti-pipeline protests in support of theWet'suwet'enhereditary chiefs had also expanded in Quebec, with blockades in Lennoxville, in the Eastern Townships, and Listuguj, on the Gasp Peninsula.

Police were moving in to enforce injunctions to end the blockades on Tuesday afternoon.

WATCH | Transport Minister MarcGarneau says policewill move on new blockades:

Garneau says provincial police will move in on new blockades

5 years ago

Duration 0:37

Transport Minister Marc Garneau spoke with the CBC's Julie Van Dusen after question period on Tuesday

Earlier Tuesday, aQuebec Superior Court judge granted an injunction againsta blockade along aCanadian Pacific rail linein the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake, south of Montreal, which hasdisrupting both freightand commuter rail servicesbetween Montreal and several communities to the south for weeks.

The injunction took effect immediately, but it was not immediately clear if it would be enforced.

At a public meetinginKahnawake Monday night, the head of the Mohawk Peackeeperspolice servicesaid ithad no intention of enforcing a court order against the protesters.

In a statement, CP Railsaid that despite obtaining theinjunction, it is encouraging peaceful dialogue to resolve the matter. The company also saidit secured the injunction to deal with any so-called copycat blockades that may emerge in the future.

Still, on Tuesday, Premier Franois Legault raised the possibility that Quebec's provincial police force, theSret du Qubec,would get involved.

"The barricades have to be dismantled for the good of the economy," he said."There is an urgency to re-establish [rail] service. The Quebec economy is losing $100 million daily. There are people suffering."

On Monday, the the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake put out a statement condemning police actions against theTyendinagaMohawks near Belleville, Ont., andTrudeau's public call on Friday for all blockades to come down.

"We cannot state strongly enough our extreme disappointment in the absolute lack of good faith shown by a prime minister who continually expresses his government's priority is improving its relationship with Indigenous Peoples," it read.

"What has happened over the past few days has, in fact, undone progress in building relations with Indigenous Peoples."

WATCH |Pipeline supporter says hereditary chiefs don't speak for Wet'suwet'en

Pipeline supporter says hereditary chiefs don't speak for Wet'suwet'en

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Duration 6:30

A former councillor for another B.C. band says there's an internal dispute between Wet'suwet'en elected and hereditary leaders.

The new protests came after Ontario Provincial Police had descended Monday on a rail blockade set up more than two weeks earlier by the Tyendinaga Mohawk near Belleville, Ont.

That cleared the way for train service to resume in the area, but as the first train moved along the tracks around 7 p.m. ET, protesterstossed a tire onto the tracks and set it on fire.

While the main protest camp outsideBellevillehas been dismantled, afew Mohawk demonstrators remained on the south side of the CN Rail tracksand saidthey are determinedto stay as long as the RCMP continued to patrol Wet'suwet'en territory.

OPP officers were also still on site, saying they're there to make sure thecourt order to keep the tracks clear is obeyed.

Perry Bellegarde, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, issued a statement after theTyendinaga arrests, saying that the police action "shows once again that we will never achieve reconciliationthrough force."

'Aiming for a peaceful resolution'

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said it's up to police services with local jurisdictionto handle the protests.

"It's important that both a strategy of negotiation and discussion continue. And at the same time, we have called upon those who are causing those blockades and disruption of rail service to take down those barricades to allow services to resume," he said Tuesday afternoon.

"And where the law is not being followed, then the police of jurisdiction will deal with it."

Earlier this month, RCMP in B.C. enforceda court injunction against those preventing contractors from accessing the construction area for the CoastalGasLink project, which would carry natural gas from near Dawson Creek to a coastalLNG Canada export terminal in Kitimat.

Twenty First Nation band councils along the route have approved the project. But the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs saythat no pipelines can be built through their traditional territory without their consent.

OnFriday, the RCMP in British Columbiamoved its officers out of an outposton Wet'suwet'en territory to a nearby detachment in the town of Houston.

A spokesperson for the force said they continue to have discussions with theWet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs.

IndigenousServices Minister Marc Miller said Tuesday that the B.C. RCMP and the hereditary chiefsspoke Monday and they'd have more to say later.

"We're all aiming for a peaceful resolution," he said following a cabinet meeting. "We're working minute by minute on this."