- in Wolfe Island, Ontario -
Those of us who live in the St. Lawrence River area, between Ontario and New York State, are understandably sensitive to issues of transportation and border crossings. In these summer months, when the Horne family operates its cross-border ferry, it’s easy enough to go over to Cape Vincent or Clayton for lunch. Year round life depends on access to Kingston by ferry.
So when about 100 miles down river the border crossing at Cornwall was closed in a dispute between the native Canadians of Akwesasne and the federal government, it registered concern. Including our sleepy crossing on Wolfe Island, there are only four St. Lawrence River border crossings, so losing one of them is significant. Then the bridge to Prince Edward County, just a short drive west of here, was blockaded for most of last week in a sympathy protest by native Canadians from the Tyendinaga reserve.
We have become accustomed to these summer disturbances in eastern Ontario. A few years back, there were on-again off-again blockades of roads and railways near Deseronto. Two years ago this month a “day of action” was planned.CNand Via Rail shut down the railways for the day. A threatened blockade of the 401 was facilitated by the Ontario Provincial Police, which pre-emptively closed the nation’s busiest highway even before the protestors showed up.
It’s a major inconvenience for travellers to be sure, but there are also deeper questions about the way in which both federal and provincial authorities have responded to such blockades.
Closing off major public avenues — railways, highways, bridges and border crossings — goes beyond matters of free speech and the right to political dissent. It threatens the orderly and peaceable movement of a free people in a free society. Such protests usually fall into two categories — legitimate lawful demonstration and civil disobedience.
Legitimate lawful demonstrations temporarily disrupt free passage or movement in order to exercise the right to free expression in a corporate way. Permits are issued, public safety is secured and order is ensured. Such demonstrations, even if making a substantial political point, are not altogether different from street closings for civic festivals, road races or religious processions.
In cases of civil disobedience, protesters deliberately, but without recourse to violence, block a street, barricade a building or otherwise disrupt public thoroughfares and public spaces contrary to the law. This proud tradition, used by civil rights demonstrators, environmental advocates, pro-life witnesses and peace activists, aims at provoking the conscience of society against the injustice being protested.
An integral part of the power of civil disobedience is the willingness of the protester to be arrested and face the penalties of law — even if most are discharged soon after arrest as no threat to public safety.
But what is going on at Akwesasne now, or last week at Tyendinaga, is neither lawful protest nor civil disobedience. The blockades are not lawful, and they proceed under the (at least) implied threat of violence. Neither are they civil disobedience, as both the federal and provincial government are unwilling to play their part and enforce the law by timely arrest and charges in court. The governments are slow to act — and sometimes facilitate the protest — on grounds of public safety and concerns about “escalating” the situation. That makes it clear that the protesters are not engaged in peaceful civil disobedience, but the use of actual physical force (the blockade) and the threat of violence (the feared escalation).
The name for this is lawlessness. It is not necessary for the government to respond with massive force, let alone punitive measures. But to do nothing whatsoever is to undermine the rule of law.
This is not solely an issue with native Canadians. A few weeks back, I was in Ottawa during the several days of protest by supporters of the Tamil Tigers. Streets were blocked, buses disrupted, the prime minister’s office surrounded — all without any apparent effort to enforce the law. The disruptions were not lawful, and even if the protesters wished to engage in civil disobedience, the non-response of the authorities denied them that opportunity. Indeed, on Parliament Hill itself, the RCMP gave the protesters such wide latitude that they handed over crowd control and traffic direction to the Tamil volunteer marshals. Lawlessness of a very Canadian sort — traffic was being directed after all! — but lawlessness nevertheless.
Inconvenience along the river will end eventually. The damage to the rule of law will endure.