Ottawa,  Ontario, August 31st, 2023 - unceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory. 4  Supporters of On2Ottawa, a non-violent civil resistance group, stopped  traffic this morning by sitting on the Gatineau side of the Portage  Bridge.

On2Ottawa  states that disruptions to business-as-usual in the capital city will  continue for another week-and-a-half. This statement comes after another  supporter of On2Ottawa splattered paint over the Northern River, a  famous landscape painting by Tom Thomson, in the National Gallery of  Canada just yesterday.

“Canadians  need to reevaluate what we assume to be sacred, a liveable future or  pieces of art, because the most sacred things - homes, communities, and  lives - are being destroyed because of government negligence and it’ll  continue to happen until more Canadians demand differently, so join us,”  says Xavier Bergeron, who was arrested today on the bridge.

On2Ottawa  is demanding that the federal government establish a National  Firefighting Agency that employs 50,000 professional firefighters by  2024. The group says that deploying the national armed forces  domestically is a misuse of both the army and Canadian resources.  On2Ottawa is pushing for the federal government to establish proactive  measures, such as a national firefighting agency, to combat natural  disasters that do not abide by provincial or territorial borders.

“And  look, it’s serious. What we’re seeing now - all these heat waves and  wildfires and high temperatures across the globe - that is only the  beginning, and that is frightening '' says Eric Schiller, an 87 year old  man and former civil rights activist, who was arrested with John Lewis  in the 1960s. He was also arrested in the block today. “And so, to sit  back and be stunned and be paralyzed by it - it’s not an answer for me.”