Oka crisis healing sought as leaders meet

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 6, 2010 | 4:31 PM ET

CBC News

Community leaders on Montreal's south shore are working to heal wounds remaining 20 years after the Oka crisis.

Carole Freeman, the Bloc Québécois MP for the riding of Châteauguay-Saint-Constant met on Tuesday with Kahnawake grand chief Mike Delisle.

The meeting is the beginning of a process meant to bring residents of the two communities closer together, they said.

Freedman acknowledged that her constituents know little about their Mohawk neighbours and that many harbour negative feelings and misconceptions, dating back to the 1990 crisis.

Kahnawake residents also have feelings of mistrust about those living in neighbouring communities, Delisle said.

Both are encouraging all Quebecers to attend the annual Kahnawake Pow-Wow.

The event will be held on July 10 and 11 — which coincides with the anniversary of the start of the Oka crisis. It flared up in July 1990 after provincial police and later the Canadian army were asked to intervene in a dispute between the town of Oka and the Mohawk community of Kanesatake.Châteauguay-Saint-Constant MP Carole Freeman and Kahnawake grand chief Mike Delisle say they are hoping to bring residents closer together. (CBC)

At the heart of the issue were plans to expand a golf course onto land the Mohawk claimed was a traditional burial ground.

In solidarity with the Mohawk community, residents of Kahnawake blocked Highway 138 and the Mercier Bridge, connecting Montreal to its south shore.

At one point during the 78-day-long standoff some residents of Châteauguay pelted a convoy of cars leaving the Mohawk community with rocks. They also burned effigies of Mohawk people.

Quebec police officer Marcel Lemay, 31, died of a gunshot wound during the dispute.