Article content

Hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en Nation meeting on Saturday with Mohawk leaders in Kahnawake confirmed they’ve spoken with British Columbia’s commanding RCMP officer about police withdrawing from a protest site against a proposed gas pipeline.

However, despite that conversation, the hereditary chiefs have not decided to call for the dismantling of railway blockades across the country, including in Kahnawake, on the South Shore of Montreal.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs will maintain blockades despite headway in B.C. Back to video

“Yesterday, we had a phone call with Jennifer Strachan,” Wet’suwet’en Chief Woos told reporters Saturday afternoon outside the Kahnawake Longhouse. “We talked a little about what we expected.”

Photo by John Kenney / Montreal Gazette

On Wednesday, Strachan, in charge of the Mounties in B.C., offered in a letter to the chiefs to move the police detachment from near the protest site in northern B.C. to the nearby town of Houston in an attempt to defuse tensions. The next day, however, a Wet’suwet’en spokesperson said the RCMP hadn’t “officially engaged” with them.