More than 400 people marched on the Quinte Detention Centre in Napanee, Ont. Saturday, banging drums and waving placards in protest of the jailing of a retired Ardoch Algonquin First Nation chief on charges of contempt. Robert Lovelace, 59, was sentenced to six months in jail on Feb. 15, for his part in organizing a series of protests against a proposed uranium mining operation at a site near Clarendon Station, Ont. - about 90 kilometres north of Kingston - last year.
A private mining company, Frontenac Ventures Corporation, has begun exploring a 5,000-hectare Sharbot Lake-area site to determine if it is suitable for mining uranium.
When he and other protesters formed a "tent city" and blockade at an entrance to the site for several months last year, they were ordered to cease and desist by a provincial court.
The mining company then enacted civil contempt proceedings against a number of the protesters, including Lovelace, which resulted in his jailing earlier this month.
After he was sentenced, he was remanded to the Napanee facility, but was moved to the Central East Correctional Facility in Lindsay, Ont. on Thursday.
Saturday's protest began at 11 a.m. at an arena near the detention centre, with speakers reading out letters of support from politicians and citizens.
Two hours later, the protesters marched to the detention centre and back to the arena.
"We had what we thought was a fabulous turnout," said Donna Dillman, a Sharbot Lake-area resident who went on a hunger strike last fall in protest of uranium mining.
Dillman said organizers counted 428 protesters who took part in the day's events.