Campbell River the next Oka?

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This small town of 17,000 threatens to become the next Oka.

The mayor has threatened to use every means possible to keep area Indians from blockading the highway just north of this town halfway up Vancouver Island.

The Laich-Kwil-Tach Indians blockaded the Island Highway to out-of-province tourist traffic as a way of drawing attention to their land claims.

Robert Ostler, Campbell River's mayor, says he won't stand for such blockades which he likened to anarchy.

"Absolutely everything will be done to keep the roads open," he warns, adding the Chamber of Commerce supports his actions. The town depends heavily on tourism during the summer.

Russell Kwasistala, a Kwil-Tach hereditary chief who helped organize the blockade, says the town won't stop the blockade - even after one of its citizens was arrested last weekend for ramming the wooden blockade at high speed with his truck. The protesters narrowly escaped injury.

The Indians claim they own the lad used to build the highway. The Laich-Kwil-Tach claim about 26,000 square kilometers of land in the area as hereditary land.

An Indian statement says the land was "stolen" from them and also complains the stretch of highway is dangerous and has been responsible for the deaths of at least two Indian children over the past few years.

Kwasistala, who refers to Indian reserves as prison and internment camps, says the municipal council has ignored Indian appeals for crosswalks on the highway.

The protest was also set up in sympathy with the Mohawk protest.

Kwasistala said the man who crashed through the barricades at speeds between 70 and 90 km/h returned to the scene only four hours after being arrested by the RCMP for impaired driving and started smashing signs.

"They'd (the RCMP) never have a Native let out like that after being arrested for drunken driving," he said, slamming police handling of the incident.

Kwasistala said he personally had to dive away from the wooden barricade to avoid being hit by the speeding coverted four-wheel-drive truck.

The blockade is among about a dozen that have gone up in British Columbia since a standoff involving the Mohawks began.

The RCMP have refused to comment on how they plan to handle the blockade. Police have been detouring traffic around it.