Lax Kw'alaams could decide on Highway 16 roadblock plans this week

Mayor Garry Reece was one of a number local community leaders
to take part in the United Coast Forum Sunday, the Lax Kw'alaams
Mayor outlined the process ahead towards their consideration of a roadblock
on Highway 16 to keep visitors from coming to Prince Rupert.

The plan ahead for what could be a Highway 16 roadblock by members of the community of Lax Kw'alaams was outlined on Sunday evening.

That as Lax Kw'alaams Mayor Garry Reece participated in an online forum with a number of North and Central coast leaders along with those of Haida Gwaii.

As part of his contribution on the night to the United Coast live stream, Mayor Reece provided a recap of the current lockdown that is in place in Lax Kw'alaams and how there have been challenges in keeping that status in place in the community, with a number of those coming into the community not following the regulations towards isolation that have been put in  place.

As part of his presentation, Mr. Reece did make note that there have not been any confirmed cases of COVID-19 listed in Prince Rupert as of yet, which he called a good thing.

When it came to the theme of plans for blockade on the highway, first announced last Thursday, the Lax Kw'alaams Mayor noted that their information release has gained some feedback and how he has heard back from both the Ministry of Transportation officials out of Terrace as well as from the RCMP.

"The news release that we put out there, I got an email from the District Manager up in Terrace of Transportation, Dan Baker and he wanted me to inform him if we were going to be going up and doing a blockade on our reserve up on the highway. And the RCMP is already aware of our news release there, so I had a call from them also.

And, so I'm sure the Premier got word of that already and you know I think we'll make a decision if we're gonna get a meeting with the Premier, which I'm hoping we do and voice those concerns with him to not allow visitors into Prince Rupert. 

You know we have a lot of Band members that live right in Rupert there I think we've got over a 1,000 band members that live right in Rupert, a lot of elders there and you know we need to protect them there also there. 

So if we're going to do this blockade  ... that's going to take us leaving our community here and so I'm going to be talking with some of my councillors tomorrow to discuss that, if that's the action we're going to have to take if we're going to go and blockade we're going to have to leave our community here and to do that. And I'm pretty sure my council is in full support of that yet.

It's pretty scary and you know I feel for Alert Bay with what's going on there, you know I wish them the very best there and  I also wish to thank the Haida Nation for organizing this here and all the Coastal communities joining in here and working together as one that's what we need to do and opening some ears back in Victoria there, that's what we need to do" -- Mayor Garry Reece of Lax Kw'alaams on plans for a blockade on Highway 16

The roadblock if it does take place, would appear destined for an area of Highway 16 near the Exstew portion of the highway; though any plans for such a step or where it may take place have yet to be detailed for Lax Kw'alaams residents, or those beyond the community.

Lax Kw'alaams website

Lax Kw'alaams Facebook page

Mr. Reece's contribution to the night can be reviewed from the video of the United Coast webinar starting at the 40 minute mark.


And while Prince Rupert may have been part of the theme for the Sunday evening discussion, particularly plans to as Mayor Reece put it "not allow visitors to Prince Rupert",  there was no indication on how City officials in Prince Rupert may view such a prospect, as Mayor Lee Brain did not participate in the online forum.

He did introduce the topic of the recent Council of Haida Nation plans, as well as those of the Lax Kw'aalams roadblock initiative through his Facebook page last week.

His social media stream providing for commentary that followed which found a somewhat mixed reaction; that as some of those offering comments to the page indicated that they had strong opposition to the roadblock.

The Mayor, who at times starts what become online fires on his Facebook page and then steps back from the blaze while the click counts jump and the likes roll in, once again did not respond to a number of questions posed as a result of his social media talking points.

Included on that list of inquiries, was if the City of Prince Rupert now officially endorses, or supports the Lax Kw'alaams plan for the road block, or any of the other recent measures that have taken place recently within the city limits.

Beyond social media, to this point there has also been no official statement from the City or comments from the Mayor or City Councillors on the topic of the roadblock plans, or other items of interest from the Council of Haida Nation notice of Thursday or the flow of conversation from last night's online forum.

More notes related to the past proposed measures and those now in place on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii can be found from our archive page here.

For more notes of interest from Lax Kw'alaams see our archive page here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.