[IPSM] Aboriginal protest blocks western Quebec highway

[aaron at resist.ca]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/03/12/blockade-outaouais.html

Aboriginal protest blocks western Quebec highway


Last Updated: Monday, March 12, 2007 | 1:57 PM ET
CBC News
About 50 aboriginal demonstrators blocked a highway in western Quebec's
Outaouais region Monday in a protest over logging and living conditions.

Quebec provincial police said they began receiving calls about the
blockade on Highway 117, about 70 kilometres north of Grand-Remous inside
La Vérendrye Park, around 5:30 a.m. ET.

Police were dispatched to the area where 50 protesters with lumber and
heavy forest machinery were blocking both the north and southbound lanes
of the main route connecting the Laurentians with the Abitibi region.

"It's people from several different native groups such as Algonquin and
Métis. And they are upset about logging practices in the region," said
Quebec provincial police spokeswoman Mélanie Larouche.

She said police had no plans to take down the blockade by force.

Protesters want meeting

Guillaume Carle, national grand chief of the Confederation of Aboriginal
People of Canada, said the barricades will remain up until government
officials agree to meet with the protesters. The Gatineau-based group
represents off-reserve natives.



He said the protesters are upset that they have not been allowed to
harvest wood from trees killed by storms or disease.

Carle alleged the Quebec government is reneging on an agreement allowing
off-reserve aboriginals to log in the region, and he said the group wants
a say in overall forestry planning.

The organization is also upset about the miserable living conditions of
aboriginals living off-reserve who have no electricity, no heat and no
water, Carle told the Canadian Press.

"The conditions are unacceptable," he said.