Natives build blockade in Quebec to halt federal official from entering reserve By Andy Blatchford

MONTREAL - A group of native activists crowded onto a Quebec road to block a federal election official from entering their reserve Thursday.

The demonstrators say they were exercising their democratic right by keeping Ottawa away from their traditional election process.

About 50 members of the Barriere Lake community stood with a cluster of 10 parked cars to keep an Indian and Northern Affairs Canada representative off their land.

The official, Bob Norton, politely told the protesters he was just doing his job, but they wouldn't budge, a community spokeswoman said.

Marylynn Poucachiche said Norton, accompanied by a provincial police officer, didn't get out of his car and quietly turned around and left.

"He drove off, so hopefully they won't try to do anything else," she said from the community, about 475 kilometres northwest of Montreal.

"It wasn't violent, it was really calm."

That hasn't always been the case in Barriere Lake, a reserve where internal squabbling has left the community without effective leadership for almost four years.

The Algonquin community has been fighting a push by the federal government to change the way it elects its band council.

And past confrontations over the issue have included tear gas, arrests and the temporary occupation of a federal cabinet minister's office.

Ottawa has told Barriere Lake that it would have to hold band elections in mid-September.

But the community claims the federal government is violating its constitutional right to hold elections according to local customs.

"The department should just back off and respect our process," said Tony Wawatie, another spokesman for the reserve.

"We have to exercise our rights as well. We're not going to take this lying down."

Wawatie says future council members wouldn't even have to live on the reserve under the electoral system Ottawa wants to impose.

Electing a new band council in Barriere Lake the traditional way is likely to take another few months and the locals don't want the federal government's involvement, he said.

For Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, that timeline isn't good enough.

After witnessing a lack of proper governance in Barriere Lake in recent years, the federal department says it has given the community close to a year to institute a traditional election system that works.

"We've given plenty of time and our position is firm," said Marie-Claude Leclerc, a regional administrator for the department.

"We see that there's a governance problem, so do we cross our arms and do nothing? Or do we try something? That's where we're at."

Leclerc said the situation has made it increasingly difficult to improve living conditions for the people of Barriere Lake.

The department will discuss the matter with Norton in the coming days to determine its next step, she added.

On Wednesday, the Assembly of Frist Nations adopted a resolution at its general assembly condemning the election rules imposed on aboriginal communities by Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

Back in Barriere Lake, the demonstrators plan to keep an eye on the access road in case federal authorities or provincial police make another attempt to get in, Poucachiche said.

Norton had been scheduled to visit the reserve Thursday to work on the nomination process for candidates.

"If he tries to come back to the community then we will be there again to stop him," Poucachiche said in a phone interview from the community of 600.

Barriere Lake activists blocked the region's main highway twice in the fall of 2008 to protest during their dispute with the government.

In one of the incidents, provincial police fired tear gas at demonstrators and arrested nine people.

Wawatie said Thursday that locals have not ruled out another roadblock on Highway 117.

In June 2008, half a dozen protesters from Barriere Lake were arrested after they occupied federal cabinet minister Lawrence Cannon's riding office in Quebec.

They alleged that Cannon, who was not there at the time, had failed to make good on a promise to help end the community's leadership dispute. -CP-