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An Indigenous group held a protest designed to “inconvenience” travellers in order to send a message: they won’t be ignored.

The protest, planned by the Southern Chiefs’ Organization (SCO), took place on Friday evening on TransCanada Highway at the Manitoba-Ontario border.

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The group is protesting the provincial interference in First Nation affairs, with Indigenous leaders calling on the Pallister government to treat them as partners.

The group of about 20 people is expected to be smudging and round dancing on the highway around 5:30 p.m. in order to create delays in traffic.

“I think it’s important that people are a little bit inconvenienced because we’re being inconvenienced,” said SCO Grand Chief Jerry Daniels, one of the organizers of the round dance. “My hope is that people see that First Nations can’t just be ignored, and we have to be treated as partners.”

The round dance is will be used to create unity and smudging to create positive energy, Daniels said, adding he welcomes people to join in the dance with the group.

Many commenters on social media did not take kindly to round dance. Many said the group’s protests were just a way to gain attention.

Daniels said the group is not trying to be unreasonable. He said the group will only be on the highway for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, allowing traffic to flow freely in between dances.

“We might do it for just an hour, it dependsm,” he said. “If people come and start yelling and swearing at us and stuff, maybe we’ll stay there longer. We have a right, this is our traditional territory.”