Ontario Provincial Police say they’ve dismantled the relocated blockade by Indigenous protesters in Caledonia.
At around 1:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, OPP officers were called after demonstrators moved from Argyle Street South to Highway 6 and Sixth Line.
OPP re-opened Highway 6 between Argyle Street North and Greens Road, after closing the roads due to “public safety concerns”.
The original roadblock was set up nearly four weeks ago by Haudenosaunee protesters over a dispute surrounding the Burtch lands near Brantford.
They set up a barricade on Argyle Street South more than 20 days ago to bring attention to the issue. Some have suggested the issue is an internal matter for the people of Six Nations to resolve, but demonstrators say there are larger issues at stake.
“While the actions spurred by the Burtch lands in particular, are seemingly internal, this is about the bigger issues in the context of land transfer, sovereignty and self-determination,” they said in a released statement. “The Haldimand Treaty was made with the people of the confederacy – one of the oldest democratic governments in the world not with the Elected Band Council.”
“We the people are the ones to uphold these treaties and the only ones to oversee and take care of our lands.”
The mayor of Haldimand County told CHML last week that the initial roadblock has left his residents hanging in the balance.
Ken Hewitt criticized the protesters and the OPP alike, and believes many Six Nations members, as well as the town residents, opposed the roadblock on Argyle Street South, a main Caledonia thoroughfare.
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