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Developer, Oka council meet with big agenda

 By Katherine Wilton, The Gazette August 9, 2010 3:22 PM

MONTREAL - Three days after a tense standoff with Kanesatake Mohawks, developer Normand Ducharme will meet today with the Oka town council to try and resolve a conflict over his plans to build three luxury homes on land claimed by local Mohawks.

Oka Mayor Richard Lalonde will issue a statement about the meeting on Tuesday, a town official said.

On Friday, Ducharme made a highly publicized visit to Oka, saying he needed to clear away brush from the property. He left under police escort after a group of Mohawks prevented him from going on the property.

The property is across the street from the Pines, the ancestral forest and cemetery that sparked the 1990 Oka Crisis.

Ducharme’s company, Norfolk Financial, acquired the property in Oka in March 2009 from a business person who owed it $100,000 in mortgage loans, Quebec land-registry records show.

Ducharme has said he is prepared to sell the land for $400,000.

Two weeks ago, Oka’s town council passed a resolution blocking construction on the site.

Kanesatake Grand Chief Sohenrise Paul Nicholas said Ducharme’s visit to the Oka property last Friday was a publicity stunt designed to increase the value of the land.

Lalonde said last week that he hopes to make an offer for the parcel of land “satisfactory to both parties.”

The land is part of a larger parcel of land claimed by Kanesatake Mohawks.

Ottawa has appointed a mediator to negotiate a new land deal in Kanesatake. Those talks are scheduled to begin next week.

kwilton@thegazette.canwest.com