Blockade members staying put - Protesters ignore government order

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The Saskatchewan government wants protesters blockading a northern logging road to dismantle their six-month-old camp. But members of the Protectors of Mother Earth organization say they are going to stay put.

Doug Cressman, the province's deputy minister of natural resources, has sent a letter to the group asking them to leave their cabins, tents and trailers on Highway 903 about 65 km north of Meadow Lake.

In the letter Cressman said the protesters are occupying Crown land without permission and warned them the government is seeking an injunction to shut down the blockade.

But blockade spokesman Ruth Iron said there are no plans to heed the government's warning.

She said treaties with the Crown made more than 100 years ago guarantee Natives the right to live, hunt and trap on the land.

The Protectors of Mother Earth are protesting clear-cut timber harvesting methods they accuse forestry developers Mistik Management of using. The group says the harvest methods are destroying a traditional lifestyle based on hunting and trapping.

The blockade was raided in June by 80 police officers in riot gear. More than 30 people, including elders, were arrested and charged with a variety of offences ranging from trespassing to blocking a public road. The charges were stayed when they got to court.

Mistik Management is partly owned by the Meadow Lake Tribal Council through its participation in the NorSask forestry development corporation.