In the aftermath of the meeting between the federal Minister of Indigenous Services, Marc Miller, and members of the Tyendinage Mohawk community, Kanesatake chief Serge Simon believes that the rail blockades should be lifted to allow room for discussion.
“It would be time to look at lifting the blockade and continuing with the discussions while asserting that the blockades will continue if governments and industries continue to demonstrate in bad faith,” he said.
Without the lifting of the blockades, Chief Serge Simon says he fears that Canadians’ solidarity with Aboriginal issues will weaken.
“We see that there are many Canadians who sympathize with the problems of the First Nations and we risk seeing this sympathy evaporate,” said Mr. Simon.
Indigenous protesters have been blocking roads and railways for 10 days in solidarity with hereditary chiefs from Wet’suwet’en First Nation in British Columbia. These chiefs oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline project in the north of this province.
After yesterday’s meeting, Minister Miller spoke of “modest progress” in reference to his efforts to lift the dam.
