Tyendinaga Mohawks to ramp up blockade over missing/murdered women inquiry

Ontario Provincial Police at Tyendinaga blockade, March 2014. Photo by Dawn Barger.

Kenneth Jackson, APTN National News, March 7, 2014
The Mohawk protesters who have been holding a blockade near Tyendinaga since Sunday are now vowing to increase the intensity in the coming days after the federal government failed to call a national inquiry Friday into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The protesters held a meeting Friday afternoon to discuss their next steps and decided they will ramp the blockade up.

“That means the tone of the blockade is going to shift,” said Shawn Brant, who has been acting as the spokesman of the blockade. “The government feels they can ignore First Nation communities and individuals looking for justice and we tend meet them on the stage they can no longer ignore.”

Brant wouldn’t say what that means, but it appears the increased direct action will be happening soon. Up until now it’s been described as peaceful as the protesters wanted the message of missing and murdered Indigenous women to be heard and not conflict.

The OPP have been using the Draganflyer X6 UAV to monitor the Tyendinaga blockade.

In the meantime, the blockade won’t be coming down that has been holding a portion of Shannonville Road just south of Hwy. 401, and about a kilometre from Tyendinaga territory, since Sunday at about 8:30 p.m.

Brant had hoped the government would call an inquiry upon the release of a report based on weeks of testimony at a government committee but the report, in his opinion and other critics, basically called to keep the status-quo.

“There will be consequences for this. We simply can’t say the status quo is acceptable,” said Brant.

Brant said the group reviewed the committee’s report before coming to their decision.

http://aptn.ca/news/2014/03/07/mohawk-protesters-vow-ramp-blockade-inquiry-called/