Indigenous protesters block Highway 6, shut down Hamilton, Niagara GO trains

#Indigenous; #Mohawks; #SixNationsOfGrandRiver; #Protesters; #GoTransitShutDown

Ottawa (Ontario), Feb 25 (Canadian-Media): In protest to Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)'s efforts to end Mohawks of Tyendinaga's blockade of a rail line near Belleville, Ontario, protesters from Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton shut down GO Transit early Tuesday morning, media reports said.
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"As the result of the ongoing police investigation along the tracks between Aldershot GO and Hamilton GO, our trains will not be able to service Niagara Falls GO, St. Catharines GO, Hamilton GO or West Harbour GO stations on Tuesday morning," GO Transit announced on its website.

Railway shutdown. Image credit: Pixaby

The GO service announced the following trains will not operate Tuesday morning: Niagara Falls 05:23 – Union Station 07:50; West Harbour GO 06:09 – Union Station 07:20; West Harbour GO 07:09 – Union Station 08:20

Hamilton & West Harbour passengers' schedule: West Harbour: Departures at 06:09 and 07:09 – replaced by shuttle buses to Aldershot GO; Hamilton: Departures at 05:48, 06:18, 06:48 and 07:18 – replaced by shuttle buses to Aldershot GO; In addition to shuttle bus service, Route 18 bus service from Hamilton GO to Aldershot GO will run as normal; There will be limited parking at Hamilton and West Harbour stations. Given the limited parking at Aldershot GO, commuters may want to consider using Burlington, Appleby or Bronte GO stations.

Niagara Falls & St. Catharines passengers' schedule: In addition to the shuttle bus service, Route 12 bus service which departs from Niagara Falls Bus Terminal and St. Catharines Fairview Mall will run as normal.

The indigenous group said it started the day by burning an injunction delivered by CN Rail.

The demonstration is to support Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs' opposing to build the $6-billion Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline in B.C., restricting the transport of goods across the country over the past two weeks.

The situation was being monitored by CN Rail. Company officials from CN and CP rail, who owned the section of the tracks.

Media were not allowed by Hamilton police to approach the railroad Monday night and also declined to comment.

"Until RCMP are cleared off Wet'suwet'en land ... we'll continue to stand here in Hamilton, we'll continue to stand across Turtle Island and block the rails. This is not it; Hamilton is not it at all," said Sonia Hill Sonia Hill, who identified as Mohawk from Six Nations of Grand River.