Montreal Quebec - Mohawk land defenders lifted the rail barricade in Kahnawake Thursday to help ease tensions in the dispute over a pipeline on Wet'suwet'en territory.
 
Longhouse representative Joe Deom called the decision an act of good faith toward the federal government, which reached an agreement in principle with the Wet'suwet'en Sunday to end the standoff in northern British Columbia.
 
"We expect the government of Canada and the premier of British Columbia to continue respectful negotiations," said Roxann Whitebean, one of the land defenders.
 
"We are here to stay as long as the Wet'suwet'en need us."
 
The camp at the CP tracks was around a fire that has been burning since the protest began in early February.
 
On Thursday, a procession of about 80 people and a dozen vehicles moved that fire across Highway 132 onto an embankment that overlooks the span.
 
"We want the fire to be visible to every commuter that crosses the Mercier Bridge," Whitebean said.
 
Leaders from the march say the blockade could go back up if the situation out West falls apart.
 
Earlier in the day, a Mohawk land defender told the Montreal Gazette, "We can never come back from this. We've shown Canada what indigenous resistance looks like in the social media era. We are a political force to be reckoned with. We weren't told to take this down. We chose to, and if we're forced to put it back up, we will."
 
On Wednesday, protesters allowed Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) to inspect the railway tracks at Kahnawake, where protesters had maintained a blockade for more than three weeks.
 
CP employees partially cleared the tracks by removing debris.
 
Peacekeepers and other members of the community supervised the inspection.
 
The protest blocking the tracks shut down the span for three and a half weeks.
 
It also prevented CP from transporting merchandise on that section of track.
 
CP obtained an injunction ordering the withdrawal of the barricade, but it was not enforced.
 
The government of Premier Francois Legault indicated it was reticent to have the Quebec Provincial Police intervene.
 
The premier sparked controversy with his suggestion that his caution was because of the presence of heavy weapons on the Mohawk reserve, a charge that was denied.
 
Another Quebec blockade, at Listuguj in the Gaspe, has paralyzed the Societe du chemin de fer de la Gaspesie, which has more than 150 train wagons waiting to pass.
 
A tentative deal was struck Sunday between the federal and B.C. governments and hereditary chiefs in Wet'suwet'en territory.
 
The terms of the deal are unclear at this point.
 
Christopher Curtis.