CALEDONIA, Ont. — Indigenous demonstrators have removed roadblocks from a provincial highway in southern Ontario, but protesters remain at the site of a housing development at the centre of a land dispute.
A spokesperson for the protesters says in a Facebook post that the blockades on Highway 6 in Caledonia, Ont., have been taken down and the group has “scaled back” its presence there.
Skyler Williams says in the post that the move comes after “lots of discussions and meetings” as well as feedback from the community.
Provincial police say the newly cleared roads are closed for repairs, a process that could continue into the weekend.
OPP spokesman Const. Rodney Leclair says demonstrators remain at the MacKenzie Meadows development site, as does the force’s liaison team.
Protesters have dubbed the site “1492 Land Back Lane,” arguing the development violates the sovereignty of the Haudenosaunee people.
Nine protesters were arrested earlier this month after police came to enforce an injunction ordering them off the land. They were later released.
The Haudenosaunee — a group that includes the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca and Tuscarora First Nations — are also known as the Iroquois or the Six Nations, and were involved in a similar land dispute in 2006.
The Canadian Press
