TORONTO - A Mohawk activist at the heart of a blockade that forced the closure of a major Ontario highway and rail line last year said Tuesday he was dismayed to learn provincial police tapped the phone of his brother, a prominent and well-regarded lawyer.

In an interview, Shawn Brant said his brother Greg had never been involved in any of the land-claim protests that coincided with a national day of aboriginal protest in June 2007.

"I was actually completely shocked and it was difficult for me to actually have to go down to his home and tell him," Brant said.

"He obviously couldn't believe it."

Greg Brant was a band councillor with the Tyendinaga Mohawk First Nation near Deseronto, Ont., and a school teacher who became a lawyer.

Shawn Brant said his brother's approach to resolving land claims has been at the negotiating table across from government representatives, not on the streets. He said he couldn't understand why police dragged him into the protest situation.

"We're on opposite sides of the fence on many issues," Brant said. "I don't share his political beliefs."

Evidence that emerged at pre-trial hearings for Brant revealed that Ontario Provincial Police used emergency wiretaps to eavesdrop on four people - Brant, his brother and two friends.

Of those, only Brant himself has been charged.

Use of emergency wiretaps negated the need for court approval, something he said would never have been granted in his brother's case.

"There's no judge in the area that would have signed a warrant for a tap on my brother's phone," Brant said. "They work with him every day."

Greg Brant, who has retained a lawyer of his own, could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday.

OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino has been on the defensive for his decision to intervene personally in negotiations with the Mohawk protest leader even though specially trained negotiators were on the scene and in regular contact with Brant.

He also admitted during preliminary hearings that he had threatened to charge the lawyer and ruin his career unless he helped police, Brant said.

In a recording of a wiretap made public last week, Fantino threatened Brant if the Mohawk blockade didn't come down.

"Your whole world's going to come crashing down," Fantino told him.

Fantino's critics argue an already volatile situation could have erupted as a result of his intervention.

Brant's lawyer and the New Democrats have called on him to resign but Fantino has defended his actions, saying the peaceful end to the standoff "speaks for itself."

In London, Ont., on Tuesday, Premier Dalton McGuinty, who has defended the commissioner, said his government was committed to improving relations with the province's aboriginal community.

If Brant is convicted at trial, which is expected to start in January, he faces up to 12 years in prison.

He was charged over the Mohawk protest that prompted police to shut down Highway 401 and CN Rail to shut down its main lines through eastern Ontario last year.

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