Tahltan nation prepare for arrest at blockade against miners in northern B

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Tahltan nation prepare for arrest at blockade against miners in northern B.C.

VANCOUVER - Elders with the Tahltan First Nation prepared Thursday to be arrested for blocking miners from their land in remote northwestern British Columbia.

Spokeswoman Terri Brown said the RCMP warned protesters at the blockade that Fortune Minerals Ltd. would likely start bringing drills in on Friday.

She also accused the band's chief of signing an environmentally dangerous deal with a coal mining company without consulting his people.

"They say it's a bunch of renegades doing the blockade. It's not a bunch of renegades, these are hereditary chiefs who really care."

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n091573A

[CHIMO]

1. Nine elders of Tahltan First Nation arrested trying to block mining compan

Nine elders of Tahltan First Nation arrested trying to block mining company

VANCOUVER (CP) - Grandchildren cried as nine elders of the Tahltan First Nation were arrested for blockading their remote traditional territory and trying to bar a mining company from coming in to drill.

"Three vehicles have gone through," said Tahltan spokeswoman Terri Brown, a powerful women's rights organizer who has returned to her birthplace to stop Fortune Minerals Ltd. from building a coal mine. "It was a very sad day for me. Heartbreaking. I have cried a lot of tears for my elders."

She has returned to the area to fight Fortune after a long career in Ottawa as leader of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women and the Native Women's Association of Canada.

Tahltan people have been camping at the Mount Klappan site, keeping watch 24 hours a day for months.

http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/politics/news/shownews.jsp?content=n091651A