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Barriers down, but Caledonia standoff continues

CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news
Last Updated Mon, 22 May 2006 10:22:57 EDT

[SISIS note: The following mainstream news article is provided for reference only, as an example of how mainstream media treats indigenous resistance to genocide. Mainstream media often presents biased and distorted information, lacking pertinent facts and/or context. Inclusion of this article on our site should not be considered an endorsement by SISIS.]

Barricades erected by Six Nations protesters at Caledonia, Ont., came down as planned on Monday morning, but a major road near Hamilton was still partially out of operation after non-native protesters set up a blockade of their own over the weekend.

"All of the [native] barricades are down," Sandra Muse, the editor of the reserve publication Tekawennake News, told CBC News at about 9:30 a.m. ET Monday.

However, as she spoke about three dozen Six Nations people were standing in front of their cars in the middle of the road behind her.

Muse said the native community wanted to end the blockade as a symbol of good will, but said a small group of non-aboriginal area residents stationed a short distance from the Six Nations group is "sort of holding things up at this point."

Over the weekend, the group began preventing vehicles driven by Six Nations members from getting to the original roadblock.

On Monday morning, they faced off with native protesters arriving at the site, moving their bodies to prevent them from walking through the small crowd as Ontario Provincial Police officers tried to keep the tension in check.

'We're going to work it out,' minister says

"We thought everything was going to happen today, but we've got a delay and we're going to work it out," David Ramsay, Ontario's minister responsible for aboriginal affairs, said Monday during an interview with CBC News.

"You get incidents out there that upset people and minds get changed," he said. "That's unfortunate."

The Six Nations protesters have been occupying the site of a new subdivision, saying they never signed away the rights to a large parcel of land in the area.

The second blockade began Friday night, as part of a weekly demonstration by members of the community frustrated about the barricade that has been blocking Highway 6 in the small southern Ontario community for weeks.

Provincial police attempting to ease tensions have separated irate drivers from about eight residents standing in front of vehicles.

The aboriginal protesters are now attempting to bypass the new blockade by building a road to the occupied construction site.

Negotiator predicts quick end to latest tension

Former Ontario premier David Peterson was appointed at the end of April to help resolve the standoff.

"I think the fact that there's a lot of tension in the air is not a big news story," he told CBC News in an interview Monday morning after the second blockade went up. "In an hour or two, they'll get in their cars and go home."

Peterson said it was crucial that the Caledonia dispute be ended responsibly because it is being watched by native groups across North America.

"Don't underestimate the significance," he warned. "All of us were praying and working hard to ensure that something ugly didn't develop out of this, like an Oka or a Wounded Knee or something like that.

"Hopefully we can get through this in a peaceful way."

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