MONTREAL - Quebec Native Affairs Minister Geoff Kelley will be meeting with representatives of First Nations Atikamekw in Quebec City Tuesday in an effort to end a logging blockade in Northern Quebec, which started June 25.
Kelley will be trying to hammer out a deal with emissary Jimmy Neashit on resource rights and other land management issues.
The group expressed dissatisfaction that Premier Jean Charest will not personally attend the meeting.
Initially the blockade targeted lumber sent over railways but the Canadian National Railway came to an agreement with the group and the trains starting rolling again Thursday.
The ongoing road blockades continue at kilometer 60 of Forest Road 25 linking La Tuque and Wemotaci. Another blockade sits 120 kilometers west of Wemotaci, a reserve of 1,200 residents about 400 kilometers north of Montreal.
The protesters are preventing logging trucks from entering the sawmills and distributing flyers explaining their demands.
Many other First Nations leaders have expressed their support for the Atikamekws.
-With a file from The Canadian Press
