James Street swing bridge negotiations on hold

Negotiations between the City of Thunder Bay and CN Rail regarding the James Street swing bridge have come to a halt.

CN Rail was expected to respond to a proposal from the City of Thunder Bay by the end of Monday.

However, the railway said it can no longer meet that time line, after Fort William First Nation raised the issue of land title for some sections of road allowances on the south side of the Kaministiquia River.

In an e-mail to CBC News, Lindsay Fedchyshyn, a spokesperson for CN, said "the complexity of the issues raised by FWFN is such that it could be days, if not weeks, before CN can legally confirm what it knows to be true: that its title is valid."

The railway said negotiations regarding re-opening the bridge will resume once the land title issue is resolved.