Feb 25, 2020 — Ontario Provincial Police moved in to remove demonstrators in the Mohawk community of Tyendinaga Monday morning. Ten people were taken into custody. No one was injured.
The Mohawks had set up an encampment next to railroad tracks more than two weeks ago, paralyzing rail traffic east of Toronto. The protest was in solidarity with Wet'suet'en hereditary chiefs seeking to block a natural gas pipeline through their territory in British Colombia.
Leaders in nearby Akwesasne are condemning the action. The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne said in a press release the police action “does not reflect the spirit of reconciliation and we are disappointed that it occurred from the direction of Canada.”
"You haven't listened to us"
Still, an Akwesasne woman who had been bringing food and other provisions to the activists in Tyendinaga said the protests served their purpose. "It shut down Canada’s economy to the point that people are starting to pay attention," said Taylor Day, who is Akwesasne from Cornwall Island now studying law at Queens University in Kingston.
Day said the protest and others like it have drawn national attention to a range of indigenous issues, starting with Wet'suet'en concerns over the pipeline, but also treaty and sovereignty issues, the disappearance of indigenous women, poverty and lack of drinking water on reserves, and the struggles of reconciliation between First Nations and Canada.
"I think it brought a lot of people to the internet or the front lines saying, 'listen'," said Day. "You haven’t listened to us about anything and now we’re going to try to gain awareness on everything that you’ve overlooked and silenced us on. Which I think is a really big deal because for years, indigenous communities have struggled with gaining awareness for certain things."
That perspective was also on the streets of Ottawa Monday, where hundreds of people marched in solidarity with the Mohawks who were arrested and the Wet’suet’en chiefs, who are still in talks with Canada’s federal government over the gas pipeline.