ok, so, as everybody that pays attention to these things knows always happens in the end, the state has threatened the use of violence if it's dictates are not obeyed (it's dictates in this case being property rights laws, regardless of debates over who actually owns the land).

as everybody knows that the state will use violence to enforce itself, why are there still people behaving as though this is shocking or unexpected?

these sorts of tactics fail. every time. yet, they continue.

i get that it's partly out of desperation. the legalities around claiming the land are complex, and a court is not likely to award the first nation control over the land. it's in new brunswick, which is under a peace/friendship treaty relationship that basically denies that the first nations ever owned anything outside of their settlements in the first place. regardless, the proclamation was crystal clear on this point: the crown owns these lands and can do as the crown pleases. this is canadian law on the subject. this is why there are cops out there enforcing the crown's property rights.

the possibility of a modern treaty exists in this area, but there is bound to be extreme disagreement over which areas fall under such an agreement and this area - which neither appears to have been in use before or after contact - is not likely to pass that test.

yet, if the law is useless, and everybody realizes it, then they have to take it to the next level. peaceful protest never got anybody anything except a jail sentence.

if what they want is to declare their disagreement for the sake of the public record, well, that's what they're doing. if what they want to do is actually stop it....

http://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2013/11/12/heavy-rcmp-presence-accompanies-swns-return/

as an aside, i doubt it's a coincidence that eastern canada just got it's first cold snap.

that's the level of respect the cops give these guys: they'll go away when it gets cold.