Roseau River calls off train blockade

June 21, 2007
Winnipeg Free Press

The Manitoba First Nation chief who threatened to blockade CN rail tracks on the national day of protest June 29 says his people have had a change of heart.

“Roseau River removes the train blockade for June 29,” says a statement issued by Chief Terrance Nelson of the Roseau River First Nation.

Roseau River is located an hour south of Winnipeg, just to the east of the main highway to North Dakota and part of the CN freight rail line into the United States crosses the community’s land.

Instead of a blockade, the community will upload a video entitled “A Long Train of Abuses”, a 16-minute video on YouTube Thursday.

It traces the glacial pace of land claims settlements in Canada through the history of disputes and stand-offs over land and treaty rights in the past decade, from Burnt Church and Ipperwash to Caledonia and Oka.

Meanwhile, there is still a plan to hold a rally, but not a blockade at the rail line at the community and Nelson said yesterday that busloads from four or five First Nations are gathering at Roseau on June 29.