The latest on protests across Canada in support of Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs - Canadian Energy News, Top Headlines, Commentaries, Features & Events

Here is the latest news on protests across Canada over a natural gas pipeline project in British Columbia (All times Eastern):

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10:45 a.m. ET

Ontario Provincial Police say fires at a second protest encampment in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory have brought freight train traffic to a halt.

Police spokesman Bill Dickson says demonstrators lit a fire next to the railway tracks immediately after a train moved through the area near Belleville, Ont., this morning.

He says demonstrators then threw a few tires on the tracks and lit them.

Dickson says Canadian National Railway Co. is now inspecting the tracks after police and firefighters extinguished the blaze.

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9:30 a.m. ET

Fifty-one health professionals in British Columbia have signed an open letter to the prime minister, B.C. Premier John Horgan, police and Indigenous leaders, calling for an end to the Coastal GasLink natural gas pipeline project across northern B.C.

They point to studies about the health and climate change risks from pipelines, plus a further warning from the American Journal of Public Health that Indigenous groups are especially vulnerable to such risks.

The letter calls for a halt to further work on the pipeline, at least until the consent of the Wet'suwet'en people has been obtained.

It also calls for a moratorium on further construction permits for the project and a return to talks with Indigenous groups whose land is affected by the pipeline.

Those who have signed the letter range from licensed practical nurses to massage therapists, RNs, doctors and even David Bowering, the retired chief medical health officer of B.C.'s Northern Health Authority.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press