A road blockade erected by Woodlands Cree First Nation near the Marathon Canada Limited production facility at Seal Lake northwest of Slave Lake has renewed cries for intervention by the province after it was revealed the blockade was allegedly aimed at some Woodlands’ own First Nations contractors.
The blockade went up at about 6:00 Thursday morning very close to the main gates at Marathon. Company boss Bert St. Martin said he told the workers who were amassing some 20-odd vehicles on the roadway they were, in fact, on Marathon property.
“They were lost,” he said with a grin. “I had to tell them this wasn’t BlackRock (Ventures) land.” The blockade moved to the west.
The Woodland Cree erected a barricade a few months earlier to contest the fact that BlackRock would not pay the First Nation a percentage of the development contract on what the band considered its traditional territory.
RCMP officers from Peace River were called in to monitor the blockade, and by Saturday BlackRock had been granted an injunction. That meant that the protesters could no longer block the road, but had to be satisfied to stand at the edge as traffic moved through.
That was good news for Grant Shihinski, manager for National Fuel Exploration, another petroleum company with a wellsite very close to the blockade site. Bound by a road ban that only allowed them on the road between 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m., his crews had worked feverishly through the night Wednesday to complete a lease road to their well site.
Shihinski said the equipment left the area just hours before the blockade went up Thursday morning.
“We’re done construction,” he told The Leader Friday, “but now I’ve got to go back to see if they’re going to let me get a tanker in to get some oil out.”
The dilemma only emphasizes the need for a meeting between contractors, First Nations groups and the province, say Dave Redgate. He’s the spokesman for the Northern Oilfield Contractors Association, the group that’s been pleading with the province to set some guidelines about companies working on Crown lands that some First Nations groups are calling traditional territory.
Some provincial officials have accused the group of evoking discriminatory emotion, but Redgate has always insisted the issue is not about race, but equal access to Crown lands.
He says he’s watching this blockade with interest “because this is a curious issue.” That is, this blockade cannot be described as aboriginal/non-aboriginal, but still begs for the province to step in and clarify the rules.
“This is not a time for Aboriginal Affairs to retreat into the woodwork, but to step up to the plate and bring all sides together so we can iron out the issues. Crown land is there for the benefit of all Albertans.”

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