TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2020) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said disruptions in transportation services due to protest blockades are harming citizens and must be resolved.
Protesters have blockaded transportation corridors in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario after authorities evicted activists in early February who were trying to protect indigenous land from the Coastal GasLink (CGL) pipeline project.
"We understand that this is an unacceptable situation," Trudeau said during Wednesday's Question Period at the House of Commons. "Canadians are hurting. Canadians are facing layoffs. This is something we need to resolve and need to resolve it not just for today and tomorrow. We need to resolve it for the weeks and months to come."
Earlier in the day, Canada's national passenger rail company, VIA Rail, announced that 1,000 workers would be temporarily laid off amid the continuing blockades, which came on the heels of Canadian National Railway's announcement on Tuesday that 450 workers would be laid off at its Eastern Canadian operations.
Multiple members of parliament also reported growing propane and other supply shortages in Eastern Canada.
Solidarity protests began in the Vancouver metropolitan area but spread to other parts of Canada, including Ontario, where a group of indigenous protesters shut down Canada's busiest railway corridor between Toronto and Montreal.
Hereditary chiefs and activists maintain that the decision by British Columbia's top court to evict them is illegal. Earlier this month, Wet'suwet'en Nation Hereditary Chief Na'Moks, who also goes by John Ridsdale, told Sputnik that the police raid and eviction violated both Federal and international law.
