OTTAWA—The stage was set late Friday for a dramatic clash when Wet’suwet’en leaders and their Mohawk sympathizers refused an impassioned demand by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take down barricades blocking rail traffic and damaging the Canadian economy.

Under increasing pressure from Quebec Premier François Legault who warned Quebec had only a two-day propane supply left and was losing a $100-million a day, Trudeau had signalled his patience had run low and, according to Legault, promised progress within “hours.”

Trudeau met senior cabinet ministers Friday morning then went before cameras to say his government’s efforts to negotiate a breakthrough in the crisis — brought on by nationwide demonstrations in support of Wet’suwet’en chiefs opposing the Coastal GasLink pipeline in northern British Columbia — had failed.

He said it was now on Indigenous leaders to persuade protesters to dismantle barricades because court injunctions in Ontario and Quebec “must be enforced.”

“We can’t have dialogue when only one party is coming to the table,” Trudeau said at the National Press Theatre on Parliament Hill. “Everyone involved is worried. Canadians have been patient. Our government has been patient. But it has been two weeks and the barricades need to come down now.”

As Trudeau spoke, police in Saint-Lambert moved toward the site of a rail blockade south of Montreal, ready to enforce an injunction the province had obtained the night before to stop protesters from blocking commuter traffic in and out of Montreal and to the provincial capital.

Within an hour, Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs reacted with defiance.

Four B.C. hereditary chiefs who had travelled to Quebec and Ontario held a news conference along with their Mohawk hosts on Tyendinaga nation near the Belleville protest that halted CN freight and Via Rail trains for 16 days.

Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief Woos, also known as Frank Alec, rejected Trudeau’s reference to Canadians impacted by the blockades, arguing that mere inconvenience cannot be compared to the devastation of colonialism and the “invasion” of his nation’s territory by RCMP officers earlier this month. Police arrested 28 demonstrators to clear a logging road to give TC Energy access to a work site for the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is already under construction in some areas.

Woos insisted leaders of his nation are ready to meet with federal and provincial ministers but only if their demands — which Trudeau characterized as a “series” of shifting requests — are met.

Woos said the RCMP’s offer to pull back a detachment on a logging road where activists were arrested this month is not enough; they need to stop patrolling in the area.

“Out means out,” Woos said.

The chief said the hereditary leadership also wants the company to suspend all pipeline activities so that “nation-to-nation” talks about Wet’suwet’en land rights can go forward.

As of Friday evening, there was no indication from the Tyendinaga activists blocking the rail line near Belleville that they are ready to stand down.

Trudeau said police in Ontario — where the OPP has jurisdiction over Belleville protests — and in B.C. and Quebec will make their own operational decisions about how to enforce court orders. He insisted he was not directing police to act but knew the RCMP had been monitoring the government’s efforts at a negotiated resolution.

Trudeau said the Mounties “independently” agreed to meet a key demand of the Wet’suwet’en opponents to a natural gas pipeline and decided to move a command post away from a logging road at the centre of Wet’suwet’en efforts to block the $6 billion Coastal GasLink project.

But Trudeau said even that “had not unlocked the end to the barricades.”

Trudeau told reporters he hoped any further police action would not end in tragedy as the 1990 Oka and 1995 Ipperwash crises had but acknowledged violence was a possibility he’d feared. He said that is why his government waited more than two weeks before giving up on talks.

His government remains “open” if the Wet’suwet’en or Mohawks request to meet, Trudeau said, but he appealed to Indigenous leaders to take responsibility for dismantling the barricades within 24 hours.

“I am hopeful that Indigenous leadership over the coming hours and day will see that in order to continue on this peaceful and important path, those barricades need to come down.”

Inaction by Indigenous leaders, said Trudeau, risks a backlash among the broader Canadian public and growing opposition to any government effort at reconciliation.

“We have exhausted our capacity to engage in a positive, substantive, active way at our initiative to resolve this. The onus has now shifted onto Indigenous leadership to look to continue this path of reconciliation in this … situation,” Trudeau said.

Mohawk activist Kanenhariyo – also known as Seth LeFort – said the two Indigenous groups, Wet’suwet’en and Mohawk, have agreed that blockades on Mohawk territory won’t come down until the RCMP withdraws from Wet’suwet’en territory to the satisfaction of the B.C. hereditary chiefs.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

“We will allow trains to pass through our territory once the RCMP have been removed from the Wet’suwet’en territory and it is confirmed by the chiefs,” Kanenhariyo said, clarifying that their demand only applies to the RCMP and not construction activity for the Coastal GasLink. He added that they would then discuss an “exit strategy” with Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller for dismantling their protest camp at Tyendinaga.

But in Quebec, patience had worn thin.

Legault told reporters he expected police to “do their job.” He distinguished protests in Saint-Lambert from protests on land that Indigenous people claim as their territory.

“It’s important for people to understand the law has to be respected,” he said. “I expect the dismantling to happen very soon, but it’s for police. I don’t want to be the one to say to the police, do this, when to do that.”

Legault said he believed the Mohawk protest would end once the B.C. dispute at the heart of the matter was resolved. “It’s a problem that is more under the responsibility of Justin Trudeau.”

By Friday evening the Ontario Provincial Police had not moved to take any direct action to enforce an injunction CN obtained two weeks ago.

“Our main goal still is preserving the peace and maintaining a safe environment for everyone,” OPP spokesperson Bill Dickson told the Star.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been careful in his public comments to date about the stoppage, but on Friday he put responsibility for the crisis at Trudeau’s feet. “The prime minister needs to step up and take responsibility. Enough is enough. The illegal blockades must come down. This is a national emergency and innocent people from coast to coast are being hurt. The federal government must co-ordinate action to take down these illegal blockades across the country.”

For several days, the federal government has been offering to send Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett to meet with Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs about their opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. But the Trudeau and B.C. governments did not even receive a formal reply to their offers, although conversations via phone, email and text had continued.

But political pressure inside and outside the Commons mounted on Trudeau as the economic toll mounted. On Friday, federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer blamed Trudeau for the mess, saying that he had shown “phoney resolve” in his news conference.

The country’s premiers spoke on Wednesday, and on Thursday, Trudeau heeded their call for a teleconference to discuss the crisis.

He convened a call of the 13 first ministers, many of whom detected a hardening of tone and language from the prime minister. They left him to issue a summary of the call.

Provincial government officials speaking on background portrayed it as “frustrating” and “quite unproductive.”

An Ontario official said Trudeau had reassured the premiers he was going to find a solution, but “we didn’t end up feeling any more assured.” The source said he premiers were looking for “federal leadership.”

“Belleville is at a breaking point,” said the official.

Legault was the premier who argued most strenuously for a timeline for action, the sources said, with Ford echoing similar concerns.

Stewart Phillip, the Grand Chief of the B.C. Union of Indian Chiefs, said by phone Friday night that the federal government is failing to prevent a tense situation from becoming more dangerous. If Trudeau was serious about his stated desire to resolve the blockades, he would travel to Wet’suwet’en territory to meet directly with the hereditary chiefs, Phillip said.

“We’re left with a situation that is escalating on an hourly and daily basis right across the country.”

With files from Rob Ferguson, Queen’s Park Bureau

Read more about: