ATTAWAPISKAT, Ont. — Just days after reaching a settlement to end a blockade on the ice road in Attawapiskat, De Beers Canada officials were dealing with a second group of protesters blocking the way to the Victor diamond mine.
“We’ve got guys on the ground” who were meeting with the demonstrators, Tom Ormbsy, director of external and corporate affairs, told QMI Agency Monday night.The “core individuals” behind this latest blockade were not among those involved in last week’s four-day demonstration, Ormsby said.
According to information Ormsby received, the core participants were “two or three individuals who were possibly joined on the picket line by some family members.”As was the case last week, Monday night’s blockade was preventing supplies from reaching the mine but not posing any interruption in its operation.
The Victor mine had had to deal with with demonstrations and blockades on the winter ice road occasionally over its five years of operation.
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