Press TV -Natives protests flare up across Canada because the Canadian government’s failure to meet the demands of the First Nations has triggered more protests across the country, with some protesters disrupting Canada-US trade at a key bridge crossing.

The Canadian government’s failure to meet the demands of the First Nations has triggered more protests across the country, with some protesters disrupting Canada-US trade at a key bridge crossing.


On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators, many carrying flags and signs calling on the federal government to listen to aboriginal concerns, blocked one of the two access roads to the Ambassador Bridge, which is the major trade crossing from southern Ontario to the United States.

Several other protest rallies were also held or planned in cities nationwide, blocking rail and roadways, including the TransCanada Highway, as well as targeting oil sands mining in Western Canada.

Indigenous communities in Canada, also known as the First Nations, say they are frustrated with Ottawa’s failure to address the social and economic grievances facing many of Canada's 1.2 million aborigines.


Canadian aboriginals are also angry at government’s Bill C-45, which seeks to change the rules about aboriginal land.

The protests intensified after Theresa Spence, the Chief of Attawapiskat First Nation in Northern Ontario, went on a hunger strike on December 11, 2012 over the violation of the rights of the Canadian natives.

Many of Canada's natives live in poor conditions with unsafe drinking water, inadequate housing, addiction, and high suicide rates.

In a report released on December 19, 2012, Amnesty International called on Canada to address human rights abuses in the country, particularly with respect to the rights of indigenous peoples.

MN/MHB