Indigenous convoys slow Ontario highway traffic in solidarity with B.C. pipeline protest

Two convoys of vehiclesslowed traffic on stretches of Canada's busiest highway Friday morning in Ontario in a show of solidarity with an anti-pipeline protest in British Columbia.

Onerolled westbound from the eastern partof the province, while the other began in southwestern Ontario and headed east. Both left before dawn and disrupted traffic during the morning rush hour.

One fleet left fromthe Mohawk Nation atAkwesasne, about 86 kilometres southeast of Ottawa, and travelled about 50 km/h as it moved toward Belleville, Ont. People from theKahnawakeMohawk Territory, just south of Montreal, joined those fromAkwesasne.

Provincial policecruisers formed a buffer around the eight trucks and SUVs and surrounding traffic.

BrandonBigtree, who was driving one of the vehicles,said the demonstration was to show support for protesters at theUnist'ot'encampthe site of a fortified checkpoint preventing people set to work on the CoastalGasLinkpipeline project from accessing theWet'suwet'enterritory in northern B.C.

Watch the rolling roadblock along Highway 401 in Eastern Ontario

Wet'suwet'enand policehave agreed to allow the company access to do pre-construction work as specified in an interim injunction order for the time being, following arrests on Monday.

"We're standing strong with our brothers and sisters out west. What's going on out there isn't right," Bigtreesaid.

He said Indigenous communities across Canada feel the federal government and provinces are failingthem.

"We just need to let [the federal government] know that we're all united."

Those in the convoy from the Mohawk Nation atAkwesasneare also trying to raise awareness about local governance issues. Some in the community are frustrated with how the elected band council has handled negotiations over a130-year-old land grievance along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. They are advocating for the nation's hereditary leadership to play a larger role in the process.

The convoy hopes to make it to the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory today.

Meanwhile, thesecond convoyleft the London, Ont., area before dawn to slow Highway 401 traffic in the southwestern region of Ontario.

People from the Oneida Nation of the Thames and Chippewa of the Thames First Nation were riding in the dozen vehicles that made up the motorcade. The action caused considerable slowdownfor commuters.

"We're doing this rolling blockade as a peacefulreminder to Canadians that First Nation people have rights to the land," said Brandon Doxtator, who was in one of the vehicles.

Theconvoy from Oneida washeading to the territory of the Six Nations of the Grand River, south of Brantford, Ont., where a rally was planned for laterFriday.