[ql06] PROPERTY: 4 arrested in protest over Hamilton valley expressway
- From: "Ken Campbell" <2kc16@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ql06@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2003 07:37:29 -0500
Forget about the eco-treehugger-guys in the first part...
Scroll down, the PROPERTY part is half-way -- a supposed 300-year-old
treaty and promise to call in some big guns from elsewhere; as Oka
showed, native interests can be fiercely, and internationally, defended.
If I were the editor, I'd have put that higher in the story, or at least
do a follow up on it. What is the validity and scope of the treaty?
Ken.
--
I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's.
-- William Blake
--- cut here ---
4 arrested in protest over expressway
$220M highway slated to be built in Hamilton valley
PAUL LEGALL AND PETER VAN HARTEN
HAMILTON SPECTATOR
OCTOBER 31 2003
Four protesters were arrested yesterday trying to stop the construction
of a $220 million expressway in the Red Hill Valley near Hamilton.
Two men were dragged away kicking and screaming as workers cut the first
mature maples on the face of the Niagara Escarpment. Three men and a
woman were charged with trespassing and breaching an injunction that
prohibits interference with the project.
Police cleared dozens of protesters from the construction corridor by
the end of the day and ordered the removal of a teepee and small camp
that had been a rallying point for expressway opponents.
They also prevented a man from nailing his hand to a tree marked for
cutting. One protester was left behind, a masked man on a platform in a
tree about 12 metres above the ground.
Police said it was too dangerous to attempt to move the man, who would
likely descend when his food and water run out.
The protesters twice stopped workers by chaining themselves to trees and
swarming around the men with chain saws.
The protesters believe the expressway's construction will destroy an
ecologically sensitive section of the Red Hill Valley. They said the
tree cutting is a significant blow and a tangible sign the controversial
highway project, first discussed in 1957, is underway.
City officials say the expressway will help provide a new economic
lifeline for the city, facilitating commerce and travel.
"It signals that the time for the fight is over," said Ed Fothergill,
president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, which champions the
building of the north-south link. "It's time to move on."
But Don McLean, head of the Friends of Red Hill Valley, believes the
expressway can still be stopped. The election of anti-expressway
candidates in the Nov. 10 municipal election could change the
"outrageous" actions of the current council, he said.
The cutting of 40,000 trees has only just begun, he said.
"The cutting is a serious assault on the valley and the escarpment face
but only a small portion of what they are planning. It will be a scar
but will grow back if the project is stopped Nov. 10."
Among the protesters is a group of natives who say their rights to the
land are enshrined in a 300-year-old treaty.
Some opponents like Donna Powless vowed yesterday to return to the
construction site.
"All of our people are on red alert at Six Nations," Powless said.
She suggested authorities were trespassing on native land and her right
to be there was protected by crown treaties.
"The court order does not apply to Six Nations people. We have
treaties," she said.
She warned that natives from several Indian nations in Canada and the
United States would come to defend the land and block the expressway,
which when finished, would connect the Queen Elizabeth Way with the
Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway.
Superintendent Ken Leendertse said police will be back tomorrow to
remove people who trespass on the escarpment face.
But he said there are no plans to remove protesters from the lower part
of the valley where natives built a long house two months ago.
The injunction, issued last month, prohibits anyone from interfering
with construction along the eight-kilometre route.
Police did not release the names of those arrested yesterday.
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