"Idle No More rally blocks Cockshutt Road, marks coming global event"

Cockshutt Road was peacefully shutdown Saturday by Six Nations activists in solidarity with 'Global Day of Action' and Idle No More, a national, grassroots Indigenous rights movement.

At 8:00 a.m., close to 40 from Six Nations marched from Cockshutt Road bridge towards the Newport Road intersection where the rally remained for the rest of the day. Ontario Provincial Police and Brantford City Police were on site directing traffic.

Six Nations man Lester Green said the blockade was about creating awareness. "We're here to educate people on Bill C-45," he said.

Green listed concerns about Bill C-45 including international trade agreements superceding Canadian law, and severely diminishing a number of protected waterways throughout Canada.

"A lot of people don't understand or don't know. It's not just a quote unquote Indian issue," he said, adding that this was about the future of non-natives and Canadians too. "People need to know we're out here for a reason and it's not just to cause trouble. This brings forth that awareness and understanding."

Though the blockade risked inconveniencing Six Nations people heading to Brantford for Saturday errands, Men's Fire member Bill Monture said a little inconvenience could be a good thing. Those trying to access Brantford were sent by the closed off Cockshutt through Tutela Heights into West Brant.

"Nothing came out of the (Ottawa) meeting yesterday," Monture said of the Harper meeting with elected council chiefs on Friday, Jan. 11. "If they're mad because we got the road blocked well tough," he said. "This needs to happen, people are asleep."

The roadblock rally came together in just two days through social media web sites like Facebook and Twitter.

And with the social media came a slew of protestors from a younger generation that came out to support the ongoing Idle No More movement.

Lindsay Monture, 24, said she's been following along since November. "It started to trend on Twitter. I happened to be following the right people," she said.

She said Twitter is her news outlet. "I hardly watch the news," adding mainstream media sometimes distracts from the real issues.

Monture said one of her biggest issues with mainstream media right now is their intent on creating a spokesperson for Idle No More when it's a grassroots movement.

She said of Patrick Brazeau: "He doesn't represent us. He's not in a special position because he's native."

And she said though she supports Theresa Spence, Monture doesn't consider her a spokesperson either. "They're giving these chiefs a voice and it shows division."

Martha Martin, a Six Nations woman came out with her two granddaughters. She said she wanted to set her kids involved because "this is going to affect all our generation if we don't do something right now."

Meanwhile, Green was handing out pamphlets about Bill C-45 to passing cars.

But it wasn't just Six Nations people that came to show support at the roadblock.

Douglas Moore, a 21 year-old Simcoe man said he was there to support Six Nations' voice. "There's been lots of injustices done to native people. A lot of it goes unnoticed," he said. Moore said the least he could do was stand with the blockade.

A friend of Moore, 26 year-old Andrew Joseph, a Seneca from Six Nations, said he was there to help start a conversation. "It's important to hold a discussion. I'm here so at least this gets talked about," he said.

The protest winded down peacefully around 3:00 p.m. on Saturday and after Green said he was happy with the reception.

Green estimated that at least 150 people showed up, even if they weren't all on site the entire time. "Some came and stayed for five minutes, half an hour, or an hour." He added people had been honking horns all day to show support.

"At least this sparked some kind of conversation."

Another day of action has been planned for today (Wednesday) but Green wasn't aware of any plans. He said support is just "a phone call or text away."