The federal government has no intention of buying land to resolve a dispute between a developer who wants to build luxury homes on his property and Mohawks in Kanesatake, who say the property is part of an unresolved land claim.
"Canada does not expropriate or buy land to settle specific claims," said Geneviève Guibert, a public affairs officer with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs in Ottawa.
Guibert said the Mohawks would be able to buy the land themselves if they eventually reach a land claim settlement with Ottawa.
"The First Nation would be able to use its settlement dollars to buy land on the open market," she said.
The Kanesatake band council has sent a letter to the land's owner, Normand Ducharme, demanding that he not develop the land or clear the pine trees until Mohawk grievances are resolved.
But Ducharme, who bought the 9,290-square-metre lot for $200,000 about 18 months ago, said he has the legal right to build on his property.
The band council put out a press release yesterday demanding that Ottawa return to the negotiating table to resolve outstanding land claims, which date back to 1977.
"The federal government should step forward and re-establish fair and meaningful negotiations in order to resolve our long-standing grievances," the statement said.
Guibert couldn't say when negotiations between both sides will resume.
On Monday, three of Du-charme's employees left the property after several Mohawks told them they didn't want any of the trees cut down. The council blamed Ottawa for the confrontation.
Ducharme said his employees had gone to the property to cut down a few trees that are in danger of falling on a neighbouring house. A tree did fall down about two years ago, causing $5,000 damage to the property, he said.
He said his tree cutters will return to the property sometime next week to cut down the dangerous trees.
The proposed development of the land has hit a nerve in Kanesatake because the property is across the road from the Pines and the Mohawk graveyard, the flashpoints for the 1990 Oka crisis.
The Oka crisis was sparked by a decision by the local town council of Oka to expand its golf course onto land claimed by the Mohawks. The crisis, which resulted in a standoff between Canada's military and armed Mohawk militants, brought international attention to aboriginal land claims.
After the crisis ended in September 1990, Ottawa purchased properties from local whites and handed them over to the Mohawks, something the current government says it is not prepared to do.
Although the Mohawks claim they don't want the trees in the Pines cut down, some members of the community have cut down pine trees adjacent to Highway 344 so they could build cigarette shacks along the highway in Kanesatake.