Indigenous activists block Canada passenger trains

All passenger trains between Canada’s capital, Ottawa, and the populous cities of Toronto and Montreal have ground to a halt after indigenous protesters blockaded a busy rail corridor.

On Wednesday, about a dozen people set up a camp by the tracks near the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve near the city of Belleville.

The activists were calling for a government inquiry into hundreds of native women murdered and missing across Canada.

“We are here because our sisters, our moms, our cousins and our friends are being stolen from us at alarming rates and there is no closure given to those families,” said one of the leaders, a woman called Karahkwinetha, who added, “This is continuing and we are not seeing an end to it at this time.”

The protesters left the scene by late afternoon and police reopened the tracks.

On January 31, Human Rights Watch condemned the Canadian government for violating the rights of indigenous women and girls.

The rights group said the Canadian government should investigate cases of rights violation, urging Ottawa to establish a system that carefully looks into police misconduct.

The government of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has come under criticism for widespread violation of the rights of the country’s indigenous people.

A recent study by the Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives says almost 50 percent of indigenous children in Canada are living in poverty — three times more than the national average.

According to a 2011 census, Canada has 1.4 million Aboriginals, which is nearly 4.3 percent of its overall population.