(The Canadian Press circulated the following on October 12.)
VAUGHAN, Ontario — Protesters briefly barricaded a railway line north of Toronto Sunday evening and threatened to stop CP Rail’s Olympic Spirit Train, but police quickly persuaded them to end their protest after about an hour.
“They listened to reasoning and they’re dispersing,” said Sgt. Mike Sterchele of York Region Police, the police department responsible for this suburban region north of Toronto.
“We always like to negotiate these things to a peaceful end.”
Nobody was arrested.
The group issued a news release earlier Sunday vowing to block the train’s route to bring attention to what it called unresolved issues with aboriginals, the poor and the environment related to the staging of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
“This is an act of solidarity with those First Nations on the West Coast,” protest spokesperson Dan Keller told The Canadian Press in a phone interview.
About 20 activists assembled on the railway line and one woman chained herself to the tracks, Keller and police said.
“The ultimate aim of this is of course to stop the Spirit train,” Keller said.
But after the protesters dispersed, Keller did not immediately return phone calls.
The train left Port Moody, B.C., on Sept. 21, on a cross-Canada voyage to promote the Games. It spent Saturday in Sudbury, Ont., and was scheduled Sunday to travel south to Mississauga, Ont. It was not clear exactly where the train was at the time the protested started.
CP Rail touted the train as a “mobile ambassador moving the Olympic spirit to Canadian communities.”
Keller said the protesters hoped they could stop the train from spreading what he called propaganda about the Games.
Breanne Feigel, a spokeswoman for CP Rail, said the blockade had a minor effect on operations, but she stressed it did not affect the Spirit Train, which arrived in Toronto Sunday.
“Certainly in this case we were extremely concerned as this form of protest poses a serious safety risk.”
An event planned Monday in Mississauga, Ont. was to proceed as planned she said.
Opposition to the Olympic Games has been constant since Vancouver was awarded the bid in 2003 but some protest groups say their membership is getting stronger as the Games near.
First Nations activists have been vocal in their opposition to the Games, saying they are being held illegally on traditional territories.
It’s an attitude organizers have worked hard to try and counter.
The federal government has signed agreements worth billions of dollars with the four bands whose traditional territories are home to the Games and with whom Olympic organizers have also built official relationships.
Both CP and the Vancouver organizing committee have said they are prepared for protests.
CP Rail, as the official rail freight services supplier to the 2010 Vancouver Games, paid somewhere between $3 million and $15 million for the sponsorship, in exchange for access to tickets and the use of Olympic trademarks for such promotional events.