Oka mayor asks Ottawa to end dispute

The mayor of Oka is asking the federal government to helpprevent aconflict over disputed Mohawk land near the site that was at the heart of the 1990 Oka crisis.

A developer wants to build three homes the site across the street from the spot where the town of Oka's plans to expand a golf course onto a Mohawk burial ground sparked the standoff 20 years ago. A police officer was killed in the early days of the 1990 dispute.

Officials are worried that unless the government steps in to settle the long-standing debate over ownership of the land, tensions will escalate again.

But this time, officials in the municipality west of Montreal are supporting their neighbours in the Mohawk community.

Taxes on the land nestled in a pine forest off the main road into Kanesatake are paid to the municipality of Oka. But members of the Mohawk community argue that the land belongs to them, part of an ongoing claim.

Oka Mayor Richard Lalonde expressed disappointment that the developer, Norfolk Financial, has so far refused to discuss the issue.

"It is a question of respect," said Lalonde.

"So, say they build and in two years the [Mohawks] win the land claim and there are houses there," Lalonde said. "The people who bought those houses, they will be stuck with the problem. Why not resolve it right away before anything is built."

"We don't want [the] situation to degenerate," he said.

The company said it intends to start work by July and will call in provincial police if it is blocked from building.

"That land there belongs to us," said Norfolk Financial spokesman Normand Ducharme.

In January, the company sent in a work crew to clear some trees, but members of the Mohawk community told them to leave.

Kanesatake resident Ronald Bonspille, whose home is next door to the disputed land, lived through the Oka Crisis.

He said he fears tensions will rise again if the developer goes ahead with the construction.

"There will be trouble," said Bonspille. "The government has got to come in here and settle it down."

Bonspille said he hopes that the federal government will buy the land to resolve the issue.

"I'm 65 years old and I've been fighting all my life. It is time that I get peace," he said.

Kanesatake Band Council grand chief Sohenrise Paul Nicholas confirmed that talks are underway with Ottawa, but said that there has been little progress in the past two decades.

The Oka Crisis flared up in July 1990 after provincial police and later the Canadian army were asked to intervene in a dispute between the town and the Mohawk community over plans to expand the golf course. Quebec police officer Marcel Lemay, 31, died during the dispute.

The standoff lasted 78 days.