CPTNet
February 11, 2003
ASUBPEESCHOSEEWAGONG (Grassy Narrows, Ontario):Logging truck
Stand-Off
About 40 members of the Asubpeeschoseewagong community at Grassy Narrows
maintained a peaceful blockade on the Segise Road, sixty kilometers north
of Kenora from 8:00 am Thursday, February 6 to 1:00 am Friday, Feb.
7. Since December 3, 2002, the community has allowed hunters and fisherman
into the forest north of Hwy. 671 but has turned back logging equipment.
Community spokesperson Steve Fobister Sr. cites thirty years of failed
negotiations as
the reason for the residents' direct action.

At 9:40 am on February 6 about twenty
Asubpeeschoseewagong residents stopped a loaded pulpwood truck, two
pick-ups and a tractor drawing a "slasher" on the Segise Road. The
community has periodically stopped trucks at this location since December,
accompanied by observers from Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT).

Local schoolteacher Charles Wagamees said, "We are here to uphold the law
and protect the forest because [the white communities] are unable to keep
their own laws. We, the Anishinaabe who have always lived here, are
standing up for everyone."

CPT worker Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg MB) explained his team's presence, "My
treaty rights to live in this land and to clean water, food, and trees have
too often been met by taking the land, water and forest away from my
Anishinaabe neighbours."

Treaty #3 guarantees the Anishinaabek access to forest that is now being
clearcut by Abitibi-Consolidated. An Ontario Provincial Police (OPP)
negotiator facilitated an
agreement between the blockade organizers and the truckers to turn the
vehicles around on the highway and to head back the way they had come.
After turning one of the trucks, the drivers broke the agreement by
refusing to return to the Segise Road, saying that a steep hill would make
the trip too dangerous. Community members refused to allow the trucks
further south on the highway, but sanded the hill in question with their
own road maintenance equipment.

The loggers, police and Asubpeeschoseewagong residents remained calm,
non-violent and willing to talk as these events took place.

At 8:00 pm about forty community members, accompanied by four members of
Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT), stood waiting, calm and committed to
their original agreement, while a second negotiator from the Ignace OPP
continued talks between the community and the truckers. At 12:30 am
February 7, the drivers turned their trucks and headed back the way they
had come. The OPP left the scene shortly afterward and a
Asubpeeschoseewagong resident accompanied the logging trucks as far as the
Wabigoon River, verifying their safe departure from the area.

At 1:00 am the high school students, their teachers,
and other residents celebrated around the roadside
fire.

CPT has maintained a periodic violence reduction
presence at Asubpeeschoseewagong since May 1999. Current team members
include Jessica Phillips (Chicago USA), Scott Albrecht (Waterloo CANADA),
Vern Ridieger
(Toronto CANADA), and Matt Schaaf (Winnipeg CANADA).