Maritime motorcade drives home native concerns

A highway motorcade organized to draw attention to native issues ended Friday at the locked doors of the Indian Affairs building.

Several dozen aboriginal demonstrators and their supporters staged a "traffic slowdown" along the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border Friday to mark the aboriginal day of action.

"Canada has one of the highest standards of living in the world, but when it comes to indigenous people, I think we rank 67th," said Diane Simon, one of the organizers.

"We're second-class citizens in our own territories. There's something wrong with that."

The procession of vehicles slowly worked its way east along the Trans-Canada Highway from Aulac, N.B., with RCMP keeping a close watch.

The event was peaceful and no other vehicles were stopped.

The group expected to meet later with federal officials at the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs' regional office in Amherst, N.S., but the doors were locked.

"I'm really shocked," said Chief Susan Levi-Peters of Elsipogtog First Nation. "Why are they locking them, especially on this day? I don't think that's nice of them."

Native leaders and reporters were told to address all questions to the minister of Indian affairs in Ottawa.

The Assembly of First Nations' day of action aims to draw attention to the issues facing Canada's aboriginal communities, including poverty, soaring high school dropout rates, high suicide rates and unresolved land claims.

In Ontario, Mohawk protesters got an early start to the day by barricading a major rail line and a highway, prompting police to shut down a stretch of highway between Toronto and Montreal.

Talks, not protests

But Rick Simon, Atlantic chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said negotiation — not confrontation — will lead to a better future for Mi'kmaq in the region.

"We don't think that we need to be standing on the highway to get our message across," he said after a meeting in Membertou in Cape Breton.

Simon recalled a similar day of action in 1994 when natives blocked several highways in Nova Scotia. But he said there has been progress made with the government, even though results may not be apparent right away.

In Membertou, Simon and Membertou Chief Terry Paul hosted an open house to chat with people about various aboriginal issues, from land claims to self-governance.