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M'Chigeeng First Nation to take down controversial checkpoints

Highway checkpoints that restricted travel across Manitoulin Island and stirred up racial tension for the past month are coming down.

Checkpoints have been up on highways in and out of M'Chigeeng since April 25

Erik White · CBC News ·
A guard watches over a checkpoint on Highway 551 heading into M'Chigeeng on Manitoulin Island. The First Nation has announced that it plans to decommission the border crossings. (Erik White/CBC)

Highway checkpoints that restricted travel across Manitoulin Island and stirred up racial tension for the past month are coming down.

M'Chigeeng First Nation closed its borders April 25 to try to protect the community from COVID-19, stopping travellers coming through its territory on provincial highways 540 and 551.

In a release Monday, the First Nation says with no active coronavirus cases in Sudbury and Manitoulin districts, it is now decommissioning the checkpoints.

Chief Linda Debassige tells CBC that work is underway on Monday afternoon, but no word on when they will be completely down. 

M'Chigeeng will instead restrict access into the community off of the highways that criss-cross its territory, the approach that many other First Nations in the north have taken during the pandemic. 

The release also says that the 700 cottagers who lease space on the First Nation are still not being allowed access to their properties.  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erik White

journalist

Erik White is a CBC journalist based in Sudbury. He covers a wide range of stories about northern Ontario. Send story ideas to erik.white@cbc.ca

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