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Title : OPP blocks road as protesters occupy cultural centre in Wahta Mohawk First Nation
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OPP blocks road as protesters occupy cultural centre in Wahta Mohawk First Nation

The Ontario Provincial Police has set up a roadblock around a cultural centre in Wahta Mohawk First Nation following its occupation by a group with local and national grievances.

About seven people walked into the Wahta Cultural Healing Centre late Wednesday morning, said David Stock, a Wahta band member and one of the demonstrators, in a phone interview with CBC News.

"This is a culmination of everything that has been going on with Indigenous Peoples," said Stock.

"We are tired and so it's everybody coming together and saying we had enough."

Stock said none of the occupiers are armed and they have not heard any from the OPP's liaison team as of 6 p.m. local time.

Krystal Brooks from Rama First Nation, who is another of the occupiers, told CBC there are 14 people inside the centre.

Wahta sits about 200 kilometres north of Toronto, just off Highway 400.

OPP officers block a road in the Wahta Mohawk First Nation on Wednesday. (Submitted by David Stock)

In a news release, OPP said members of the Bracebridge detachment were investigating "the entry and illegal occupation of the Cultural Healing Centre in the Wahta Mohawk Territory." Muskoka Road 38 is closed between Wahta Road 3 and Wahta Road 5.

The release said there was no threat to public safety beyond the area contained by police and that members with the Provincial Liaison Team "will work with the organizers of this occupation in an attempt to mitigate issues and mediate the situation."

OPP Sgt. J.T. Folz said the OPP received a call about the occupation shortly before noon. He said police were employing a tactical team for safety reasons.

Folzs, who was at a command centre a few kilometres from the scene, said the OPP had not yet independently verified that the occupiers were not armed.

"They can come out and show us," he said.

"That's not for anyone to just assume or take anyone's word on that."

There was no answer at the Wahta band office. A Facebook post said the school bus was being re-routed due to the road closure.

Roads closed

Karihwakeron Tim Thompson, a Wahta band member, said a back road in the area that leads to three houses was also blocked by the OPP. He said police were encouraging people in the area around the cultural centre to leave their homes.

Folz said the OPP asked people to leave their homes in the immediate vicinity of the centre for their own safety.

Thompson said he was blocked by police from walking to his cousin's house on the other side of the community.

He said he felt the OPP were overreacting.

"It's a very worrisome situation," he said.

"It's a peaceful occupation. I would expect to see a different kind of scene out there; this looks very aggressive. You hope there are cooler heads involved here and that lines of communication are open."

2014 protest lasted 140 days

Stock said people from other First Nations had arrived recently in a show of support, but were turned away by the OPP. Stock said some members from Akwesasne, a Mohawk community that straddles the Canada-U.S. border about 120 km west of Montreal, had managed to join the occupation before the police blocked the road.

Wahta was founded in 1881 by members from the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, Que., near Montreal.

Wahta faced a 140-day protest outside the band administration office in 2014 aimed at the band council. Stock filed an unsuccessful $13 million Federal Court lawsuit against the band last March alleging it had drafted an "enemies list" of 35 people who were involved in the protest.

Stock rhymed off a number of issues behind the protest, including findings of systemic racism in Thunder Bay's police force, Ottawa's now-cancelled plan to revise policy on modern day treaty negotiations that triggered a protest in Edmonton last week, and last year's acquittal of Peter Khill in the 2016 killing of Six Nations man Jon Styres.

One grievance that Stock brought up several times was the conduct of band governments under the Indian Act band system and Ottawa's perceived willingness to look the other way on governance issues and corruption.

"Rogue councils can do whatever they want," he said. "Even if they were voted in by three per cent of the people who live there."

Stock said many First Nations faced similar issues.

"This is not a Wahta thing, this is a nation thing. This is a whole nation thing. This is everybody," he said.

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