A group of Aamjiwnaang protesters, as well as Sarnia’s police chief, have been charged with contempt of court for failure to follow an injunction filed by CN Rail last week to get them to stop blockading a busy industrial rail line. The protest, which is part of the national ‘Idle No More’ movement, has been going on since December 21st, when protesters started blockading a section of the rail line which runs through their reserve. The first motion is against the protesters’ spokesperson, Ron Plain, for failing to stop the blockade once the injunction was filed last week, and the second is against Sarnia’s chief of police, Phil Nelson, to explain to the court what measures are being taken to remove the protesters.

The ‘Idle No More’ movement was started in response to Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, who has been on hunger strike since December 11th in order to gain a meeting with Stephen Harper in order to discuss long standing issues on her reservation. Attawapiskat, you may remember, made national news in 2011 when the terrible living conditions were revealed by the CBC (much of the reservation has no running water or electricity, in spite of government claims otherwise). The movement seeks to “to assert Indigenous sovereignty and begin the work towards sustainable, renewable development.”

In spite of the development in Sarnia, the movement has been gaining traction both inside and outside of Canada, with a mass protest planned today in Winnpeg, and another railway blockade planned in Eastern Quebec. A large ‘Idle No More’ protest was held at the Eaton Centre in Toronto on Sunday, after protesters had great success there earlier last month.

[Via London Free Press]

____

Megan Patterson is the Science and Technology Editor at Paper Droids and currently a Toronto Standard intern. She has also written for WORN Fashion Journal, Elevate, and Salon Magazines. She also tweets more than is healthy or wise. 

For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard and subscribe to our Newsletter.