12 March 2007

Mohawk deadline expires today

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UPDATE: Too many threats, not enough Indians
Despite warnings of a protest by local Mohawks this week, Deseronto was quiet Monday with not a leaflet, barricade or poster in sight.

Extra Ontario Provincial Police officers were in the area Monday. But instead of traffic control around a demonstration site, they could be found in the local OPP office doing ordinary work.
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Professional protester Shawn Brant's 60-day, "Deadline in Deseronto" is up today.

In fact, March 12th is actually Day 61... I'm guessing it's better to try disrupt lives on a weekday, when more people are actually working.
-- The demonstrators say they are reclaiming 925 acres illegally taken from the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte starting in 1832.

The land was granted to them by the Crown in exchange for loyalty to the British during the American War of Independence, when the Mohawks were forced from their ancestral home in New York state.
Local Conservative MP Daryl Kramp is not happy about the looming deadline.
“Negotiations are underway and they are ongoing,” he said. “Why the attempt to blockade a legitimate business that’s been there for generations?”
It will be interesting, in light of events at Caledonia, to see whether the OPP will simply stand by and watch another illegal aboriginal blockade go up, or will, as new OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino has previously indicated... step up and enforce the law.

I'm not holding my breath.


RELATED: Who is Shawn Brant?

LAST WORD: Todays armed insurrection...

Comes courtesy of the Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada.
-- GRAND-REMOUS, Que. -- A group of armed aboriginals blockaded a Quebec highway Monday, stopping traffic to protest forest management by the province.

Quebec provincial police said between 25 and 50 people set up the blockade around 5:30 a.m. on Highway 117, north of Ottawa.

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