TORONTO —
Via Rail is cancelling its entire passenger train network across Canada until further notice due to ongoing pipeline protests.
The company said Thursday afternoon that it “has no other option” than to cancel all train service effective immediately. Via Rail passengers with bookings will receive automatic refunds, and the company will not accept any new bookings before Feb. 18.
“We understand the impact this unfortunate situation has on our passengers and regret the significant inconvenience this is causing to their travel,” Via Rail said in a statement.
The nationwide gridlock comes as CN Rail says it is being forced to progressively shut down its operations in Eastern Canada “until the illegal blockades end.” The company said that also means stopping all transcontinental trains across its Canadian network.
“With over 400 trains cancelled during the last week and new protests that emerged at strategic locations on our mainline, we have decided that a progressive shutdown of our Eastern Canadian operations is the responsible approach to take for the safety of our employees and the protestors,” CN Rail CEO JJ Ruest said in a statement issued Thursday.
Ruest added that commuter rail link services such as Metrolinx and Exo can continue operating “so long as they can do so safely.”
Protesters have shut down rail traffic across the country, including the busy corridor between Toronto-Montreal and Ottawa-Toronto. In B.C., service is being disrupted between Prince Rupert and Prince George.
CN Rail said it has sought and obtained court orders and requested help from enforcement agencies for the blockades in Ontario, Manitoba and B.C. It says that, while the blockades have ended in Manitoba and may be “imminently” ending in B.C., the court orders in Ontario “continue to be ignored.”
Demonstrators remain camped out on a rail line in Belleville, Ont. They say the blockade is the only way they can get their message across.
Protest organizers say they are standing up against the Coastal GasLink pipeline project that crosses the traditional territory of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation near Houston, B.C.
The protests began last week after the RCMP enforced a court injunction against Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs and their supporters. The group had been halting construction of the pipeline, a major piece of a $40-billion LNG Canada liquefied natural gas export project.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wrote to the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs on Thursday to confirm that a member of his cabinet will meet with them to discuss the issue. That minister will be Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Carolyn Bennett.
B.C. Premier John Horgan has said he is also willing to meet with demonstrators.
On Wednesday, Trudeau said he recognized the “important democratic right” of peaceful protests and encouraged “all parties to dialogue to resolve this as quickly as possible.”
“This is an important part of our democracy in Canada, but we are also a country of the rule of law and we need to make sure those laws are respected,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Senegal.
With files from The Canadian Press
