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This article was published 15/12/2012 (2846 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Members of Sandy Bay First Nation use a blockade on the Trans-Canada between Highway 16 and Road 42 West to protest budget bill C45 on Saturday.

Traffic on the TransCanada Highway near Portage la Prairie reopened early Saturday evening after being rerouted around a First Nation blockade for part of the day.

In the morning, RCMP closed just one of two eastbound lanes to traffic at the junction of the Trans-Canada and Highway 16. Protestors from Sandy Bay First Nation were kept in one lane, while traffic used the other, for a stretch of about 200 metres.

Plans changed when protestors and traffic started coming too near to each other, said RCMP spokesman Cpl. Miles Hiebert.

Cars on both eastbound and westbound lanes had to take gravel-road detours for a few kilometres, adding an extra 10 minutes or so to their travels, Hiebert said.

The First Nation was protesting omnibus budget bill C45, which it says imposes on their rights.