New rail blockage in Saint-Lambert

A few dozen demonstrators blocked the Canadian National railway line in Saint-Lambert on Saturday morning to support the Wet’suwet’en indigenous nation in its fight against the Coastal GasLink pipeline in British Columbia.

“We will block transportation infrastructure essential to the Canadian economy as long as the RCMP are in Wet’suwet’en territory and construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline continues,” said Marianne Côté, an activist for the group. Anticolonial Montreal.

The demonstrators rallied around the slogan “shut down kkkanada”. Logs of wood to fuel campfires were brought to the scene, while the activists prepared to stay there for a long time, the QMI Agency observed at the scene.

“It is important that non-natives take initiatives to respond to the call for solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en and disrupt Canadian economic and political life without respite,” continued Mr.^me Côté by calling on environmental movements and the defense of territorial rights to action.

The Longueuil agglomeration police department indicated that it was on site to supervise the demonstration, but that no intervention is planned since the demonstrators do not obstruct road traffic.

Exo’s commuter train service, which operates its Montreal – Mont-Saint-Hilaire line on this line, was not disrupted for the moment since it is not offered on weekends.

Not a first

This new coup, which comes after a few tense weeks in Wet’suwet’en territory, is reminiscent of the wave of blockages that paralyzed the Canadian rail network in the winter of 2020, just before the start. of the pandemic.

In recent times, several protests have erupted in the territory of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, degenerating into a clash with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who have made several arrests over time.

In particular, 15 people, including two journalists, were arrested in one fell swoop on November 20.

Activists opposed to the construction of the pipeline are seeking to block access roads for workers and the flow of materials, despite injunctions ordering them to stop.

The Coastal GasLink pipeline, some 670 km long, is to transport natural gas from Alberta to the British Columbia coast for export. However, the infrastructure crosses traditional indigenous territories, where part of the population is opposed to the project.