BC

MCLEOD LAKE, B.C. - Five protesters have been arrested at the McLeod Lake Indian Band office near Prince George, B.C., as police enforced a B.C. Supreme Court injunction order against a week-long blockade. 

RCMP Const. Lesley Smith says four men were the subject of an arrest warrant and one woman was taken into custody for refusing to leave when requested to do so.

In addition to the arrests at the office, Smith says three elders and two other protesters turned themselves in at a court in Prince George.

Smith says all the protesters engaged in an illegal blockade that prevented the band council from entering the office.

Protesters maintain Chief Derek Orr and the former council breached the trust of the band’s membership by signing a revenue-sharing deal with Terrane Metals, now owned by Thompson Creek Metals, for the Mt. Milligan copper-gold mine.

The McLeod Lake Indian Band has about 500 members, and about 100 of them live on reserves near the village of McLeod Lake, 150 kilometres north of Prince George. (The Canadian Press, Prince George Citizen)