Mohawks show support for natives in Ontario
CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news
Last updated Apr 20 2006 03:20 PM EDT
The Mercier Bridge was closed for a short time late Thursday morning as Mohawks from Kahnawake showed their support for aboriginal protesters in southwestern Ontario.
The Mohawk Peacekeepers who police Kahnawake closed the bridge because they wanted to make sure that those who wanted to mount flags on the bridge could do so as safely as possible, so they blocked traffic while people climbed the bridge.
Trucks blocked traffic in both directions around 11:15 a.m. as people put up Mohawk flags to display their backing of protesters at a construction site in Caledonia, Ont., who believe that nearby land is rightfully theirs.
'We do not want another 1990'
The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake doesn't plan any long blockage of the bridge, says band member Timmy Norton.
Norton vowed Thursday that there won't be a repeat of the Oka crisis of 1990 when the Mohawks blockaded the Mercier Bridge for months to protest plans for construction of a golf course on native burial grounds in nearby Oka.
Provincial police were eventually sent to end the blockade, touching of confrontations between officers and demonstrators.
It won't happen again, Norton said. "We do not want another 1990. We do not want to block the bridge again. We want to show support to those people over there, but we want to do it in a good way, in a peaceful way."
Provincial police were told the Peacekeepers blocked the bridge Thursday, according to Linda Bertrand, spokesperson for Sûreté du Québec.
The Mercier was closed between 11:15 and 11:31 a.m., Bertrand said.
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory is on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River across from Montreal.