Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller asked the Mohawks of Tyendinaga to temporarily halt a demonstration that has shut down one of Canada’s most important rail corridors and allow trains through, a leaked recording of the closed-door meeting reveals.
But a phone call from a a Wet’suwet’en hereditary chief undercut that request, according to the recording.
The phone call came in the middle of a Saturday meeting between Miller and representatives from Tyendinaga, along with other Mohawk communities, as he sought to find a resolution.
The Mohawks have vowed to keep the railways shut until the RCMP left Wet’suwet’en territory, which faced a multi-day raid by Mounties earlier this month.
The demonstrations have had a wide impact. VIA Rail has cancelled passenger traffic, CN Rail has issued temporary layoff notices, and on Sunday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cancelled an international trip, citing “infrastructure disruptions.”
In the midst of Saturday’s meeting, Wet’suwet’en hereditary Chief Woos, who also goes by the name of Frank Alec, was patched through on a speaker phone. He told the room that the RCMP was still on his territory.
“I would suggest to you loud and clear that we want the RCMP out of Gidimt’en territory,” said Woos. An audio recording of part of the meeting was leaked to CBC News by a source who attended.
Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory sits about 240 kilometres west of Ottawa, launched their action in support of Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs after they faced a raid from the RCMP earlier this month enforcing a B.C. court injunction.
Miller arrived in Tyendinaga Saturday and met the Mohawks in a ceremonial encounter on the CN train tracks to renew a 17th Century treaty between the Iroqouis and the British Crown known as the Silver Covenant Chain.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, second from left, leaves a Saturday meeting with protesters at a rail blockade on the tenth day of demonstration in Tyendinaga. According to a leaked recording, he asked the Mohawks of Tyendinaga to temporarily allow some trains through during another round of talks. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)
Miller then entered a closed-door meeting with 80 people reportedly in attendance. The minister sought to open channels of communication and find a resolution to the standoff on Ontario’s rail lines.
He wanted the Mohawks to allow some trains through during another round of talks, according to the recording, which was provided to CBC News by someone who attended.
“My wish is that we have a temporary draw back and allow the trains to go through,” said Miller.
He was immediately interrupted by a Mohawks resident in attendance, according to the recording.
“Get the red coats out first, get the blue coats out … then we can maybe have some common discussions,” said Mario Baptiste.
Miller said he would then come back to keep the talks going and move toward broader change for Tyendinaga and the rest of the country
“Obviously dealing with the context of the issue … it absolutely needs to be widened,” said Miller, in the recording.
Kanenhariyo, whose English name is Seth LeFort, speaks to the OPP liaison officers during a meeting on the train tracks Tuesday. The demonstrations have had a wide impact. VIA Rail has cancelled passenger traffic, CN Rail has issued temporary layoff notices, and the prime minister has cancelled an international trip. (Rozenn Nicolle/Radio-Canada)
That request was undercut moments later when Woos bolstered the Mohawks’ reasoning behind the rail line demonstration by speakerphone.
Woos told the room that while the RCMP operation was over, the police remained on the territory and continued to pose a threat.
“We want them out of there. We don’t want them there. They have a detachment right in the middle of nowhere, in their eyes. But in our eyes, it’s our territory,” he said.
“We do our traditions out there. We do our tapping and hunting. They are out there with guns, threatening us.”
Woos also said he wanted to “thank the Tyendinaga people” for their support.
Woos did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did Miller’s office.
After the meeting, Miller told reporters he achieved “modest progress” and some of the issues put on the table would be raised with the prime minister and federal cabinet. But the audio recording reveals his main request — that some trains be allowed through — went largely unheeded.
The Mohawks have set up two camps a couple of kilometres apart, along the CN tracks, but have put nothing across the tracks to block the passage of trains. The camps’ proximity to the rails, along with the Mohawks’ message to CN that they did not want any trains going through, was enough to shut down the tracks.
There was a festive atmosphere at both camps around the barrel fires following Miller’s meeting Saturday night, with some saying they were witnessing the start of an Indigenous uprising and revolution.
The Mohawks of Tyendinaga have shut down Hwy 401, one of Canada’s busiest highways, and the CN tracks in the past. This demonstration, however, has become one of the focal points of an evolving potential national crisis that has seen ports, intersections and train tracks blocked across the country.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cancelled an upcoming trip to Barbados as a result of the rail disruptions, which has forced VIA Rail to cancel passenger traffic across the country. CN Rail shut down its Eastern Canadian network and laid off employees as a result of the demonstration that began on Feb. 6.
Feb. 6 was also the day the RCMP launched early morning raids against Wet’suwet’en camps.
Protesters stand on the closed train tracks on the ninth day of the blockade in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, near Belleville, Ont. on Friday. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)
The Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed the pipeline and said its construction violated their recognized rights over the territory. While several Wet’suwet’en bands signed deals for the project, the hereditary chiefs say they have jurisdiction over the nation’s territory and point to a 1997 Supreme Court decision as supporting their position.
“You had an illegal judge make an illegal injunction,” Tyendinaga Mohawk Kanenhariyo, whose English name is Seth Lefort, told Miller, according to the recording.
“And had the RMCP, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, militarized police, that are underneath the jurisdiction of the Crown, enter those territories with helicopters and AR-15s [assault rifles] on peaceful people living in their own territory and removed from their own territory.”
Miller said Trudeau and B.C Premier John Horgan had recently designated ministers to sit at a table with the Wet’suwet’en and Gtixsan hereditary chiefs. The Gitxsan also ended their own blockade of CN rail lines in New Hazelton, B.C., as a result of the agreement.
However, Woos said there were still some serious issues to iron out with the new process and nothing had changed in regards to the RCMP’s presence on his territory.
Miller said these were issues he would take to Trudeau and the federal cabinet.
“I need to go back to the prime minister and clarify exactly what the ask is,” said Miller.
“There is a lot of information that is getting either distorted or not clear…. I will go back to cabinet. I will go back to the prime minister. My understanding is that the Wet’suwe’ten leadership is properly engaged, that they traced a path forward.”
Two people talk at a rail blockade on the eleventh day of demonstration in Tyendinaga, near Belleville, Ont., Sunday, Feb. 16, 2020. The protest is in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs opposed to the LNG pipeline in northern British Columbia. (Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press)
Against this backdrop the clock ticks on an injunction extended by the Ontario Superior Court last Friday.
The Ontario Provincial Police twice visited the main camp on Sunday, which sits on Wyman Road at the edge of the reserve boundary. The second visit was to inform the camp that an OPP plane would now be flying over the area.
Even so, red Mohawk Warrior flags flapped from the raised level rail crossing as masked young men wearing camouflage occasionally gazed through binoculars at the OPP cruisers up the road.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
