Robyn Pitawankwat became emotional when police were called to the protest outside the INAC office. Photo by Manfred Joehnck
Regina police were called in and a steel mesh fence went up outside the Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada office in downtown Regina Tuesday afternoon.
A group of protesters have been occupying a strip of gravel in front of the building since Monday morning. They are sleeping in nine small tents that have been set up on a gravel strip in front of the building.
Now, they have been pushed back about ten feet.
Protest organizer Robyn Pitawankwat says keeping the office closed to the public and pushing the protesters closer to busy Albert Street will not solve anything.
She says they are there to make a point about inadequate housing and a mental health crises among aboriginal youth across the country. Pitawankwat says the fence represents the divide that has always faced First Nations people.
“They are showing us over and over again that we are shut out,” she said. “The fence shows that we will not be let in, we will not be let in to talks, we won’t be let into the building, we won’t be let on to the property.”
At one point she wept when the steel mesh fence went up about a foot from where her three-year-old daughter was sleeping in a tent.
Sharon Williams is caught in the middle of all this is. As the property manager for the building, Williams said she is just following the instructions of the building’s owner.
“I just shake my head, you know. Really, what are you going to do?” she said. “I am not saying if I agree or disagree with it, it has nothing to do with me at all. I’m just doing my job, that’s it, period.”
The Regina INAC office has been closed to the public since last Friday.
There is no indication when it might re-open. INAC offices in Winnipeg, Toronto, Vancouver and Gatineau, QC are also closed because of protesters.
