Ontario Provincial Police, who shut down Canada's busiest highway early Friday morning west of Kingston due to native protesters in the area, have decided to reopen Highway 401.
The OPP had closed it earlier in the day after the protesters blockaded a section of secondary highway and a stretch of nearby railway track on the eve of the National Day of Action.
The OPP closed Highway 401 both ways between Napanee and Belleville and were diverting traffic north onto Hwy 7 due to native protesters "being in the direct area, for safety reasons," said Sergeant Kristine Rae of the Smith Falls detachment.
Hours later the OPP issued an arrest warrant for protest leader Shawn Brant on a charge of mischief.
Native demonstrators also blocked roads in and out of a reserve in Alderville, Northumberland County, halfway between Toronto and Kingston.
Constable George Silvestri said that both the north and south ends of Alderville, on County Road 45 just north of Cobourg, were blocked by the demonstrators Friday morning.
A county road near the popular Ontario Muskoka town of Bala was also blocked by demonstrators. The OPP confirmed Friday there are protesters in the Kawartha Lakes region as well.
Via Rail suspended all trains headed from Toronto to Ottawa and Montreal Friday — affecting about 5,000 travellers — after the group of Mohawk protesters now blockading Hwy. 2 west of Kingston announced they would demonstrate on the tracks.
Protesters had barricaded the CN rail line used by both passenger and freight trains, Highway 2 and Highway 401.
"I think that's an indication of our strength, of our willingness to stand on the line," Mr. Brant said.
He said OPP Chief Julian Fantino called him three times in the early hours of Friday. and that OPP told him they were prepared to launch an assault if they needed to.
"In fact," Mr. Brant said, the OPP said "there would be a dawn assault and then ... a 6 a.m. assault. We've been anticipating and we've been preparing for that."
The assault never happened. "That's part of the game," Mr. Brant said.
Mr. Brant told reporters Friday morning that he would be willing to turn himself in later today but not before he "gets to give his kids a hug."
In Caledonia, Ont., where a native occupation of a construction site has often flared up in violence, a group of about a dozen protesters started the day with prayers for peace and calm.
"Our prayers simply go out to all our brothers and sisters that they remain safe and out of harm's way," said Dawn Smith, a Six Nations protester.
No blockades were planned near Caledonia, she said.
Natives from the nearby Six Nations reserve occupied the Douglas Creek Estates housing development early last year, claiming the land as their own and accusing the government of reneging on a 200-year-old treaty.
The protesters blocked a road and a railway track last year. They weathered a raid by the Ontario Provincial Police and several violent confrontations with local Caledonia residents.
The native occupiers at Caledonia do not recognize the authority of Assembly of First Nations, the body that represents elected band councils and that organized Friday's protests. The protesters in Caledonia defer to the confederacy council, a group of chief and clan mothers who draw legitimacy from their hereditary lines. The confederacy council views the elected chiefs and the AFN as puppets of the federal government.
"This is for one day only," Miss Smith said of today's events organized by the AFN. "Our protest is generations old."
In Montreal, meanwhile, there were only minor disruptions Friday morning.
About 6 a.m., Kahnawake Mohawks slowed traffic for about 90 minutes along Highway 30, a suburban road. Criticizing the government's choice to expand the highway, they distributed pamphlets to drivers saying there needed to be more consultation.
Earlier in the morning, they also hoisted large Warrior Society flags on the Mercier Bridge, a commuter feeder that was blocked throughout the summer Oka crisis.
Phil Fontaine, the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, stressed at a news conference Thursday in Ottawa that his organization is calling only for peaceful events.
