Legault’s claims are “inflammatory and dangerous” – Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake

In response to the Ontario Provincial Police moving into Tyendinaga on Monday morning, community members conducted a ‘rolling blockade’ along Route 132 leading to the Mercier Bridge. Greg Horn/Iorì:wase.

A day after the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake praised its patience during the railway blockade in support the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs the Canadian Pacific Railway obtained a court injunction to open its tracks in Kahnawake.



“CP has obtained an injunction in Quebec related to all rail blockades,” CP Spokesperson Jeremy Berry said in a statement on Tuesday afternoon. “CP has acted honourably through direct and respectful engagement with Indigenous leaders since this blockade in Kahnawake began more than two weeks ago. CP has supported the Wet’suwet’en where we could. On Thursday, February 20, 2020 CP President and CEO Keith Creel wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, expressing CP’s support of the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs in their request for direct dialogue with the Prime Minister.



“Unfortunately, the blockade at Kahnawake has severed vital rail connections and severely impacted CP’s operations, customers and the broader economy,” Berry continued. “Outside of this blockade other ‘copycat’ blockades, including some not involving Indigenous peoples have developed.



“After exhausting all other options without a resolution, CP was compelled to take action to secure a province-wide injunction to deal with future ‘copycat’ blockades,” Berry continued. “We encourage continued peaceful dialogue between all parties at Kahnawake to resolve this blockade as soon as possible, while reminding all involved of the material harm it is having on customers and fellow Canadians.”



The CP tracks were closed by Kahnawa’kehró:non on Febuary 8 in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en in their battle against the Coastal GasLink pipeline.



CP obtained the provisional court injunction in Montreal Superior Court on Tuesday morning. The provisional injunction is in force until March 5 at 11:59 p.m.



The injunction orders people to “immediately and completely evacuate the Canadian Pacific Railway Company property, including its railway located at or near Mile Post 40.7 of the Adirondack Subdivision located at Old Malone Road, Kahnawake, Quebec, as well as any other portion of CPR’s property, including all rights-of-way, crossroads, railway lines, terminals, lands, premises and facilities in the province of Quebec, and including, without limiting the foregoing, the Central Maine and Quebec railways line at or near Lennoxville.”



The injunction also “authorizes any police services or peace officers, including the Surete du Quebec, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Kahnawake Mohawk Peacekeepers to assist CPR in the execution of the present order” and authorizes those same police departments “to use any force deemed necessary in order to assist in the execution of the present order.”



The MCK said that it is considering all its options in response, including challenging the injunction.



“First and foremost, we must make it clear to our own people that this injunction will not be executed on this Territory,” MCK Grand Chief Joe Norton said. “It is truly unfortunate that CP is taking this rash course of action, which will only add to the problems at hand.”



The MCK also confirmed that the Peacekeepers are the only police force with jurisdiction in Kahnawake. During Monday’s emergency community meeting Chief Peacekeeper Dwayne Zacharie stated that the Peacekeepers had no interest in enforcing any injunction in the community related to the railway blockade.



“We have no interest in criminalizing people for standing up for our rights,” Zacharie said.



“No one here will do Trudeau’s dirty work,” Norton said. “Our people have been peacefully protesting on our own territory. The Prime Minister, and all other politicians, need to understand that this is not only an Indigenous issue, but also a matter of the millions of people everywhere who are concerned about climate change and the never-ending corporate greed that continues to expand the use of fossil fuels and, of course, getting those fuels to market using pipelines.”



Norton has also commended the community for remaining calm.



“I commend our people for remaining calm during this time,” Norton said. “We will continue to do our best to keep everyone informed on all developments in this situation. Meanwhile, history reminds us that the proper approach to addressing issues is through dialogue and discussion – not by sending in police.”



The Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake said it is disappointed that CP has opted to go the injunction route.



“We are very disappointed that Canadian Pacific issued an injunction,” Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake Secretary Kenneth Deer said. “We felt that Canadian Pacific was having a good relationship with the community. The MCK put out a press release complimenting them on their patience, and then boom we get an injunction. We were very disappointed in that. We think that Canadian Pacific could have shown some more patience of a few more days. We’re hoping still that the issue in B.C. could be settled and resolved and everything can be removed peacefully without any kind of intervention. We’re disappointed and tensions are now heightened in the community.”



Quebec Premier Francois Legault has further fanned the flames telling the mainstream media that the SQ would be enforcing the injunction and saying that the Mohawks are armed.



“That’s inflammatory and dangerous,” Deer said of Legault’s statements. “It’s a peaceful demonstration. The people up there at the barricade are unarmed and the people who are going to protect them are unarmed. Any time the Premiere says that they’re armed is untrue and inflammatory and it risks the overreaction by the SQ.”



Deer said it would be wise for CP to withdraw the injunction, otherwise CP risks becoming the Mayor Ouellette of Oka. In 1990 Ouellette sought a court injunction to remove a Mohawk barricade in the Pines, which sparked a police operation on July 11, 1990.



“We don’t want another 1990,” Deer said. “No one wants another 1990.”

The Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake said that it views the court injunction to be an “act of provocation and aggression.”



“We remind the province of Quebec and the government of Canada that our unceded territory was illegally expropriated to build this railway in the late 19th century,” the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake said. “Canadian Pacific Railway itself is a direct agent of colonization, as they stole Indigenous lands to build a path that facilitated Indigenous colonization and oppression in the west. Canadian Pacific is in no moral position to play victim in the Quebec Superior Court. Our land was stolen for that railway.”



Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said that he and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett are working with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary for a peaceful resolution.



“We have been able to make some modest progress this week,” Miller told Iorì:wase.



Miller also said that last week there were some positive developments as the B.C. RCMP said that it would be de-escalating and leaving the area around Kilometer 29 of the Morice Forrest Road. Miller said that his and Bennet’s offices have been working hard to try to confirm that.



The Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake reiterated that the focus of this issue is the Wet’suwet’en.



“Despite the current political climate in Kahnawake, we must continue to focus on the struggle of the Wet’suwet’en people,” the Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake said. “We call upon Indigenous allies and climate change activists to mobilize in support of the Wet’suwet’en struggle.”



— Iorì:wase



