Land Defense

A group of around 100 protesters blocked the Viau entrance of the Port of Montreal Saturday afternoon for about 30 minutes. The group arrived at the port at around 2:15pm today and erected a barricade and several banners in front of the port entrance, blocking incoming and outgoing traffic. The group then held a demo through the streets of Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. This action took place in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en who are fighting against the continued occupation of their unceded territories by Coastal GasLink (“CGL”) and the RCMP. This action comes on the heels of multiple rail blockades which have taken place in so-called Montreal in recent weeks. ...

Sometime on Friday March 6th, 2020 in a secret courtroom on University Ave in Toronto, CP Rail will make a motion to have their interim injunction be extended to an interlocutory one. Didn’t know CP had an injunction just like CN Rail’s? Neither did anyone but CP Rail & Justice Myers – until they decided to serve recent Hamilton arrestees at their homes after 9pm last night. ...

before the sun rose in the early early morning of 02/20/2020 we took direct action against pipeline infrastructure in Acheson AB outraged by the Reactionary Colonial Mounted Pigs invasion of sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory and in solidarity with the Secwepemc we decommissioned a section of pipe that the klanadian state (financers of this project) had left sitting in the open air with little defense solidarity means attack ...

Several arrests in Hamilton have been made in relation to the recent blockade action that saw rail lines shut down in response to the OPP raid in Tyendinaga early this week. Police took people from their homes and workplaces, for a total of 4 arrests at this time. These people are currently all still in police custody and will be appearing in court for bail in the next couple days. While unfortunate and enraging, none of this is surprising. Over the course of the last month, wave after wave of blockades and other actions have swept across the country causing incalculable economic damage and throwing Canada and its treatment of indigenous communities into the global spotlight. It was only a matter of time until the state responded with force and began to target those involved. This week appears to have been a tipping point in this regard, with police increasingly making arrests in different cities. ...

In the night from Sunday to Monday, an electrical signaling box located along the CN rail line in Pointe-St-Charles was burned. We hope that traffic will be interrupted again and for as long as possible. We targeted the rails not only because they are the colonial infrastructure par excellence, but also because the majority of natural resources are moved by train. We give a warm salute to all those fighting extractivism and domination: the mines that destroy the land (even the lithium mines needed for the production of electric car batteries), the extraction and transportation of oil and natural gas, the devastation of forests, from one side of the country to the other. We want freedom, dignity, self-determination and a healthy life – for everyone and without concession.

A CN rail crossing in Saint-Lambert, Quebec is currently being blocked. The track connects Montreal to Eastern Canada as well as to the United States. We are acting in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en who are fighting against Coastal Gas Link’s proposed energy corridor through their territory and whose land was invaded by the RCMP in January. Since the beginning of the RCMP’s invasion, many different types of solidarity blockades have multiplied across the country. We are inspired by the courageous acts of Indigenous resistance we have witnessed, including the ongoing rail blockades in Kahnawake and Tyendinaga. We have set up this new encampment blocking CN tracks as we believe these land and water defenders should not have to fight alone. ...

Today, Sunday the 16th of February, at 11am, around 20 people gathered at the train station in St-Pascal du Kamouraska. We marched through the town in support of the Wet’suwet’en struggle for the effective recognition of their traditional governance and the defense against the ransacking of their ancestral territories, in relation to the construction of a new energy corridor in British Columbia. Then a blockade was erected for an indeterminate amount of time on the CN tracks, blocking all rail traffic to the Maritimes. ...

This text speaks of a change in strategy in this moment of resistance, calling to widen the scope of revolt. While the main audience is other native people, the author urges settlers to read it and take away the main lessons as well . It is available here as a print-ready PDF. Print and distribute widely. Get this in the hands of as many native folks as possible. ...

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A bit over a hundred people marched through downtown Montreal Thursday night, to show their solidarity with the inhabitants of Wet’suwet’en territory currently facing violence and harrassment from the colonial Canadian state and its police force, the RCMP. Demonstrators marched in the streets of Montreal toward the RCMP offices behind a banner reading “RCMP OFF WET’SUWET’EN LAND”. The RCMP headquarters was targeted in response to violence against indigenous people and especially the Wet’suwet’en. The car parked in the driveway had its windows broken and tires slashed, and paint bombs and graffiti hit the building. The demonstration occured in the context of a wave of actions currently shutting down so-called Canada. The message is clear: violence committed against indigenous peoples, land defenders and water protectors, on Wet’suwet’en land or elsewhere, will always meet with a response. This response will come from everywhere and it will only get louder. ...

Currently people are shutting down Canada, ports, rails, highways, hell the hashtag’s even trending on twitter. As anarchists we are seeing large parts of the population engage with anti-colonial and anti-capitalist movements. This engagement as our own has been in the past is tricky, and requires critical reflection. The stench of liberalism spreads far and wide, and although many are sympathetic with Wet’suwet’en demands, confrontational tactics as expected leave many shaking at their feet. In Vancouver we have seen large symbolic arrests prioritized over effective action. Not to say there has not been effective action, people held the entrances to major ports shutting down commercial traffic for days. We should celebrate this. But when facing arrest rather than moving to say the rails or the highways they chose to wait and be arrested symbolically (subsequently released without charges). ...

An interactive map showing the different blockades in progress across so-called Canada, and the rail lines affected. There are five blockades included… so far. Useful Links : A Callout for Rail Disruptions in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en (including how-to guide) Weak Points of Canada’s Resource Exploitation Economy Chokepoints in Transportation Infrastructure #SHUTDOWNCANADA