Kanesatake Mohawk grand chief faces backlash after calling for end to rail blockades

Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon has retracted his comments calling for an end to the rail blockades. You can follow the storyhere.

A small group of Kanesatake Mohawks locked out the grand chief and hiscouncil from the administrative office of the First Nations community near Oka, Que., Tuesday angry at the elected leader'spleas for an end to blockades that have paralyzed rail traffic across the country.

Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon took part in a news conference in Ottawa Tuesday morning, alongsidethe Assembly of First Nations National ChiefPerry Bellegarde and other First Nations chiefs.

At the news conference, Simon said he was "pleading with the protesters" to bring down the blockades that were set up as an act of solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs in B.C. who oppose the Coastal GasLink pipeline project running through their traditional territory.

Ablockade in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, near Belleville, Ont., has shut downCN Rail in eastern Canada, and ablockade inKahnawake, Kanesatake's sistercommunity on Montreal's South Shore, has interruptedCanadian Pacific services that run through the territory.

"Have you made your point yet? Has the government and industry understood? I think they did," Simon said.

"Bringing down the blockades doesn't mean that you surrender. It doesn't mean we're going to lay down and let them kick us around. No, it would show compassion."

Simon made similar comments Monday evening on local radio in his home community, which prompted half a dozen people in Kanesataketo show up at the band council office Tuesday morning, where they padlocked the door andlit a bonfire outside.

They held up signs that questioned Simon's authority.

"Serge Simon you are not the voice of Kanehsat:ke," one sign read.

"Solidarity with hereditary chiefs ofWet'suwet'en," read another.

Remember OkaCrisis: protesters

Kanesatake, about 65 kilometres northwest of Montreal, was the Mohawkcommunity at the centre of the OkaCrisis in 1990.

Thatdispute, which began over the proposed expansion of a municipal golf course, took a violent turn when provincial police moved in on a Mohawk protest camp to enforce an injunction. A police officer was shot and killed.

The confrontationprecipitated the closure of the Mercier Bridge, the CP rail line and highways through both Kanesatake and Kahnawake and led to a 78-day standoff with police and the Canadian army.

The protesters outside the Kanesatake band office said Simon's comments failed to acknowledge that history.

"In 1990, we had the support of Indigenous people from the whole country," John Harding, one of the protesters,told Radio-Canada. "So we wanted to tell our brothers and sisters that we're in solidarity with them."

Legitimacy of band councils questioned

A key issue in the crisis inWet'suwet'enisthe divide between members of the elected band council, many of whom support the pipeline project, andhereditary chiefs, who oppose it.

The legitimacy of elected band councils, acreationthe federal government set out in the Indian Act, is contested in many First Nationscommunities, including inKanesatake.

While Simon's leadership has been called into questionbefore, Harding said the issue this time involveshis failure to consult the community before issuing the call for blockades to come down.

"He spoke as if thatwas the community's position. But that's not true. It's not like that at all," Harding said. "That's not our way of governing."

He said he would like the communitytoseek a confidence vote in Simon's leadership.

Simon met with the protesters later Tuesday. He said he tried to persuade them he was acting in the best interests of the Mohawk community.

"They perceived it more like I'm giving up. And that's not the case at all," Simon told CBC's As It Happens.

"The blockades could be making it more difficult for any discussions or progress to be had. That's why I'm just asking ... if maybe there is another way that could help theWet'suwet'en people."

Legault alludes to 'deadline' for peaceful solution

The Quebec government, meanwhile, continued to express its displeasure with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's response to the rail blockades and stressed the urgency of finding a solution.

Premier Franois Legault said Trudeau's address to the House of CommonsTuesday offered nothing new, even as the economic impact of the blockades grew.

Blocked rail lines meanships arriving at the Port of Montreal haven't been able to offload their cargo onto trains. The port,Legault said, was running out of space for incoming ships.

(The port authority responded to that declaration in a news release later Tuesday, sayingthere is no space shortage at the moment and the "situation is manageable.")

"We have to put a deadline" for finding a peaceful solution, Legault said, although hestopped short of calling on the federal government to use force to remove protesters.

The premier appeared to hold up Simon's comments as a justification for his position.

"I've seen and discussed with some communities. Some Indigenous communities want us toopen the railways," Legault told reporters in Quebec City.