NAPANEE, Ont. – Three men face charges after demonstrators temporarily stopped all traffic on CN Rail tracks in eastern Ontario as part of a week-long protest calling for an inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
After first closing a local road on March 2, demonstrators vowed on Friday to step up their actions after a controversial parliamentary report into missing and murdered indigenous women rejected calls for a full public inquiry.
Activists blockaded the tracks Saturday morning in Napanee, east of Belleville, leading CN to issue a stop order and Via Rail cancelling trips using the busy Toronto to Ottawa corridor.
Provincial police moved in shortly after and arrested four people – one of whom was released without charges – while train service resumed by early Saturday afternoon.
Investigators also allege that on Saturday a man struck the window of an unmarked police cruiser, breaking the glass.
Among those facing charges is 49-year-old protest spokesman Shawn Brant of Tyendinaga Territory who faces two counts of mischief.
Marc Baille, 27, of Kingston, is charged with mischief over $5,000, assault with a weapon, weapon dangerous and breach of probation.
Matthew Doreen, 38, of Tyendinaga Territory, faces one count each of obstructing police and mischief.
Brant and Doreen are due in court April 1, while Baille was to appear in court on Monday.
Police say their investigation is ongoing and that further charges may be laid.
The release of the missing women report on Friday set off a firestorm of criticism from opposition critics, First Nation leaders and human rights groups.
Liberal and NDP members who sat on the all-party panel issued their own dissenting reports, accusing the federal Conservatives of sanitizing the final report on an ongoing crisis that has caught the attention of the United Nations.
It’s estimated there are hundreds of cases of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada dating back to the 1960s – officially as many as 600, and likely hundreds more unreported victims.
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