Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday his government remained focused on resolving the protests that have blocked rail lines “quickly and peacefully,” but Canadian National Railway’s frustration at the ongoing protests is continuing to grow.
Sean Finn, CN’s senior vice president and chief legal officer told the Globe and Mail, “This has been long enough now,” urging intensified negotations to end the blockades “forthwith.” The blockades, in support of First Nation efforts to block a pipeline in British Columbia, are entering their 13th day. The Globe and Mail said nearly $350 million in freight is idled on the railroad, which has shut down operations in eastern Canada and says layoffs are imminent.
VIA Rail Canada, meanwhile, said nearly 94,000 tickets have been cancelled because of the blockades. It has cancelled all operations through Wednesday, except for two remote services operated on non-CN lines, and is not accepting new reservations before Monday, Feb. 21.
Amtrak trains are also being affected. Today’s Maple Leaf, which normally serves Toronto, will originate and terminate in Niagara Falls, N.Y. The status of today’s Adirondack, which normally serves Montreal, has not yet been reported.
If you run the trains they will move they want to be like bug splatter on you,re cars windshield and front of the car during the summer so let it bee, windex and a squeegee will fix that !
Run the trains through the blockades, I bet they’ll get off the tracks rather than be rundown.
Jim Norton, maybe send Trump to Puerto Rico first… they have yet to experience any kind of leadership from their president. Throwing rolls of paper towels at the protesters will not resolve this.
Anna, I’m a life long conservative (republican in America)
Jeff Dahl, so you mean like Cliven Bundy?
Yes this will end in bloodshed, thanks to the predictable cowardice of Canada’s diaper-clad PM. Had he stood up to these thugs when he should have, they would have backed down. Now he has a full-blown crisis on his hands that he’s manifestly incapable of dealing with.
As for Canada’s opposition parties, they’re almost as bad as the governing party. “Conservatives” my bum.
Misters Salisbury, Symonds, and Pearce:
Might I kindly suggest VOTE RHINO!
Just offer them what our native peoples in the US have the privilege of…casinos.
Just arrest these folks already and get them into an office to negotiate.. Quit hampering commerce..
Luke, the news item has the wrong date, but this coming Friday is Feb 21 and next Monday is Feb 24.
February 21 is this coming Saturday.. next Monday is the 23rd…
Jeff
The courts have issued two injunctions against the protestors blocking the line in Ontario, the police have not enforced these due to the potential flashpoint, to the eyrie of the judge. Yes, they should be rounded up, but at what cost? Police are taking a hands off approach, yes it is a crime here also. This is bewildering to CN. Remember, the police are there to uphold the law and a judge has issued injunctions, so…………
When the police in British Columbia enforced the initial court order there, it became the flashpoint for several blockades across Canada. Unfortunately they were warned this was going to happen if the police moved in to clear the construction road of protestors at the blockade.
This is a very complex problem and very difficult to understand if you have never been exposed to it, armed conflict has resulted in death at other standoffs both for police and native Canadians. They now take a hands off approach, something us non natives have trouble understanding, but nobody dies. Not saying it’s right but that’s now it is right or wrong.
In the USA those people can be lawfully rounded up, tossed in jail and charged with interference of interstate commerce, a federal crime, which can carry a sentence of up to 20 years.
That’s true Charles but the swipe at at POTUS is uncalled for in this forum. And I am not a fan of Mr. Trump.
JIM SALISBURY – PM is mentioned in first sentence of blog above so I think it’s appropriate to comment on the PM. Justin wants to resolve the problem “quickly” It seems as if he’s already failed at that.
Thomas,
I too am a white Canadian Conservative voting male.
There is no need to bring up our PM or the POTUS, has nothing to do with our conversation
I wonder how many of the people here are Canadians, understand the backstory of this situation or the history of negotiations with the indigenous people: I’m a middle-age, white Canadian male – so i expect the answer is about as much or less than i know about Wounded Knee. Nothing good will come of a show or force; i believe the representatives of the blockade will need to be brought along to the understanding that prolonging them will result in self-inflicted harm as well, a potential change in their own leadship and further (unintended) hardship. The government must do better, as well for it’s own self-interest – insulate the the economy from the risk of absorbing recurrences. BTW trolling our PMs character/ appearance belies an otherwise weak argument; suggesting the current US POTUS (who barely understands the dynamics, history and geography) of his own country could do any better is weaker still.
Charles, I’m sure Jim S could elaborate but I’m pretty sure that Canada First Nations have a lot more control than just Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Petition, they have a lot more control than Native Americans do from what I’ve read, though not quite on the level that the Amish have in the U.S., but somewhere in between.
CN is doing what they feel is right, the Canadian Government is doing what it thinks is right, the Chiefs think they’re doing what’s right and the governing council thinks it’s doing what’s right…in the end no one wins.
Yes Charles, I am quite aware of WW2 history.
The other issue here is who is in charge on indigenous lands, the elected band council or the hereditary chiefs. Elected band councils are a result of colonization, and generally follow the way things are done in “our” society. The hereditary chiefs follow indigenous law. Unfortunately they clash occasionally since “we” negotiate with the elected councils. That’s how the system works here. However, all the natives stick together when one of their clans are affected. This Is what has caused this latest flare up since the RCMP legally enforced an injunction on their land.
The hereditary chiefs gave the pipeline owner two other options for running the line but they didn’t want those routes for cost and maybe technical reasons (seems like a convenient excuse)
Unfortunately for us, the police have adopted a hands off on these situations after some nasty previous situations. Guns ablazing has been proven to accomplish no thing.
And don’t forget the eco terrorists that are well funded by foreign money, they have their hands all over this as well but they have mixed in with the protesters in Toronto and Vancouver
Why does Canada tolerate such economic hostage-taking? The protesters certainly have plenty of other high-profile means of getting their message out.
JIOM – I don’t know the whole background and I don’t care. Canada First Nations have freedom of speech and freedom of petition. That’s all they get. Blocking the rail is to be met by appropriate force, not by negotiation.
Wounded Knee has nothing to do with anything. Every group in Canada has its backstory. That’s why there is Canada. Do you think that Scots or French or Ukrainians or Irish or Viets or Japanese went to Canada because they were having a great time in the old country? I don’t give a rat’s rear end about Wounded Knee because my Ukrainian and Belarus grandparents were having almost as bad a time in the old countries before moving to America, assimilating and making something for the next generations like me. Rather than complaining.
Read World War II history. Wounded Knee was no worse than, probably much better than, the forced emptying of Auschwitz and the death marches than ensued. Than descendants of the few who survived those death marches have done just fine and have no claimed any special privilege.
Although I completely disagree with the rail blockades, without knowing the whole background you need to understand the entire background. Google Ipperwash and Oka crisis to get some background on how we got here. Wounded Knee is another example of two much physical intervention, and in the end people died and nothing was settled.
The weakness here is not getting to the negotiating table on day one and having the federal and provincial governments pointing fingers at each other with law enforcement caught in the middle.
Almost forty years I took the tour boat on Lake Maligne in Jasper Park. The young Alberta tour guide told us that “In America you have your great President Ronald Reagan, the great country singer Johnny Cash and the great comedian Bob Hope. Here in Canada Pierre Trudeau [Justin’s father] is our Prime Minister and we have no cash and no hope.”
Canadian and provincial governments have pussy-footed with First Nations’ groups and their increasingly unreasonable demands for decades. The chickens are coming home to roost.
What a lack of leadership. Send Trump up there and show what a real leader is.