‘Shut down Canada’: anti-pipeline protests spread across country, leading to major train disruptions and port blockades
- Major rail line connecting Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal closed, forcing 20,000 passengers to cancel trips
- Dozens arrested for trying to block port of Vancouver in opposition to construction of Coastal GasLink pipeline on Indigenous land
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Indigenous protests against a new pipeline in westernmost Canada scaled up across the country on Tuesday with major train disruptions, port blockades and sit-ins at government offices.
Over the past several days, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police moved in to enforce a court injunction and clear the original protest blocking work on the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline opposed by Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs in British Columbia.
That provoked others in solidarity with the chiefs to try to “shut down Canada,” leading to major transport disruptions and dozens more arrests by police.
On Tuesday a major rail line connecting Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal was shut down, forcing more than 20,000 Via Rail passengers to cancel trips.
Canadian National Railway told local media it would also close “significant” parts of its Canadian network unless rail lines were cleared.
Dozens were arrested on Monday for trying to block access to the Pacific port of Vancouver, while on Tuesday another protest set up at the Atlantic port of Halifax.
In Toronto, meanwhile, a few dozen protesters took over Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett’s constituency office, demanding that the “RCMP back down” and that the C$6 billion (US$4.5 billion), 670km (415-mile) pipeline be scrapped.
In Ottawa, a group occupied the lobby of the Justice Department.
And in Victoria, a ring of protesters surrounded the British Columbia legislature, preventing access for lawmakers.
Transportation Minister Marc Garneau said the government was concerned by the “illegal” and “significant disruption” to rail services.
“We hope this will get resolved as quickly as possible because it’s having an important impact on the economy of the country,” he said.
Protesting on railway tracks “could also be dangerous”, he added.
