by Christopher Guly
OTTAWA, March 4 (Xinhua) -- The rail blockades protesting a proposed natural-gas pipeline over the Indigenous territory in the western Canadian province of British Columbia (B.C.) have not only halted freight and passenger traffic, but have also eroded the approval rating of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government, according to a new poll.
In a recent survey of 1,000 Canadians, global market-research company Ipsos found that six in 10 Canadians disapprove of the Trudeau government, less than five months after it was re-elected in a national vote.
Even more Canadians, 62 percent, have an unfavorable view of the continuing protests, and nearly two in three (63 percent) said they support police intervention to end the blockades, one of which remains south of Montreal led by Mohawks in support of the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs who are opposed to the Coastal GasLink pipeline.
On Sunday, the Canadian and B.C. ministers responsible for Indigenous relations reached a tentative agreement with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs over Indigenous rights and land title, but the details of which have not been released. While elected Wet'suwet'en band councils support the pipeline project, the hereditary chiefs continue to oppose it as construction on the pipeline resumed on Monday.
Meanwhile, Canadian opposition to that opposition within the Indigenous community is growing, Darrell Bricker, chief executive officer of Ipsos Global Public Affairs, told Xinhua.
"To get two-thirds of Canadians to agree on anything is tough these days," he said in an interview. "Canadians are separating themselves from the Indigenous community to a certain extent because of the tactics that have been chosen by the people supporting the Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs."
He explained that the Ipsos survey results reveal a shift in public mood from "a discussion about Indigenous issues to a discussion about law and order, and appropriate protest - and whenever it moves to that, it never goes well for the people who are protesting."
On Tuesday, Trudeau acknowledged the frustration Canadians feel over a resolution to the tensions.
"It is a process we are all impatient with that needs to move forward, but we need to remain positive because the only path forward for our country is for all of us to work together and that is what we're going to stay focused on doing," he told reporters on the east-coast Canadian city of Halifax.
On Monday, B.C. Premier John Horgan told the provincial legislature that the pipeline project has been "approved and ratified" and will be completed.
"Dissent is appropriate," he said. "Unlawful dissent is not."
