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But the rail blockade in Ontario remained.

Near Belleville, Ont., roughly halfway between Ottawa and Toronto, protesters continued to stand firm. Temperatures hovered around -18C Friday morning, but a handful of people, bundled up, milled around the blocked tracks. Two trucks were parked alongside the tracks, and a banner reading “Stop Colonization” hung beside a pickup truck and camper.

As well, media reports said a blockade of a CP Rail line on Kahnawake Mohawk Territory near Montreal remained Friday morning, while the Quebec Union des municipalités demanded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government put an end to the protests that, as of Thursday evening, saw the shutdown of Canadian National Railway freight shipments in eastern Canada and Via Rail passenger shutdowns across the country.

Photo by Carlos Osorio / Reuters

“The situation is extremely worrisome and it is urgent the government of Canada settle it. We cannot wait another week,” said Suzanne Roy, interim president of the Union des municipalités in a statement.

The protests are over a pipeline through the interior of B.C: The $6.6-billion Coastal GasLink pipeline is to run some 670 kilometres from the Dawson Creek area to Kitimat, on the northwestern B.C. coast, where a major, $40-billion natural gas project is underway.

Elected band councils have signed agreements with Coastal GasLink Pipleline Ltd., a subsidiary of TC Energy (formerly TransCanada Corp.) for the pipeline, but the hereditary Wet’suwet’en chiefs, who claim jurisdiction over 22,000 square kilometres of the B.C. interior, object to the project. For years, the hereditary chiefs have been attempting to block access to construction sites. The matter heated up when, earlier this week, the RCMP cleared out the final blockades to the pipeline construction sites.