Tensions flare in Oka over housing development on disputed land

Mohawk activist Ellen Gabriel and others squared off Wednesday against Oka Mayor Pascal Quevillon at the site of a new housing development where hydro poles were recently installed and pine trees cleared.

The Domaines des CollinesD'Okaproject in Oka, about 60 kilometres northwest of Montreal, is on land which is part of the Kanesatake Mohawks' decades-old unresolved land claim.

"Your only solution is to continue to get more money for development, for your taxes," Gabriel said to Quevillon. "Our solution is to stop this."

Quevillon, however, said the development is out of his hands.

"I can't change this," he told those gathered, adding the municipality would be sued if it tried to stop the project.

• Potential development prompts worries of another Oka Crisis

The builder of the DomainesdesCollinesD'Oka saidthe developmentis already three-quarters finished.

Another 20 homes are plannedforthe disputed land, according toQuevillon.

'Another Oka Crisis in the making?'

In an interview with CBC News, Serge Simon, the grand chief of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, worries the situation could escalate if nothing is done.

"Is there another Oka Crisis in the making?I sure as hell hope not," he said, referring to the 1990 standoff between Mohawks, provincial police and eventually the Canadian army sparked by a golf course development on disputed land.

• OPINION: The Oka Crisis was supposed to be a wake-up call. Little has changed in 27 years

Quevillon said the developer of CollinesD'Oka had reached an agreement with the Mohawk council back in 2003, but Simon said there are no formal agreements on file.

Simon said it's normally up to the municipality of Okato negotiate permits with the Mohawk council, not developers.

"It was the municipal government that gave the permits out to his man, and they had the responsibility, not the developer," Simon said.

Simon said he contacted federalland claim negotiators about the disputethis morning.

In the meantime, he wants a moratorium placed on the housingdevelopment.

• TIMELINE |Oka Crisis: 78 days of civil unrest
• CBC ARCHIVES |Armed stand-off begins at Oka
• Reflections of Oka: stories of the Mohawk standoff