Cemetery expansion ignites old flames

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There's been a flurry of activity in Ottawa recently, as Indian Affairs Minister Ron Irwin stepped-up efforts to still the waters of discontent in and around the Mohawk community of Kanesatake, Quebec.

Tensions between Kanesatake and neighboring Oka town council began to boil May 19 when Mohawks started work on land adjacent to their crowded burial ground to expand the sacred site. Mohawks used bulldozers and chainsaws to clear the land, which was the focus of the dispute between the two communities during a 78-day standoff in 1990.

Irwin was quick to announce the appointment of both a chief federal negotiator and a mediator for negotiations with the Mohawks. The first priority of Michael Robert in his capacity as chief negotiator will be to resolve the dispute on the cemetery, said Irwin.

Robert will negotiate the establishment of a unified land base for the Mohawks of Kanesatake, self-government arrangements and other issues.

But Mohawk leaders refused to meet with the negotiator until a mediator with a mandate from the Prime Minister was called into the talks. The Mohawks began to rip up an access road to the Oka golf course which dissected the burial ground.

Quebec Native Affairs Minister Christos Sirros gave full reign to provincial police to intervene in the process if they felt public order was threatened. He said he didn't think anyone would go in with guns blazing, but it was a situation of law and order.

Indian Affairs sent mediator Rejean Paul to Oka and, as of June 1, Kanesatake Band Chief Jerry Peltier said he was optimistic a consensus could be reached over the cemetery issue.

Paul has been chairman of the Cree-Naskapi Commission since 1986, and was also appointed mediator between the federal government and the James Bay Cree in 1988.

In other related activity, Irwin also announced Ottawa's intention to purchase the properties of non-Natives who live in four subdivisions south of Kanesatake.

"I believe that the purchase of these properties will help reduce a source of tension in the area and facilitate the resumption of substantive negotiations," Irwin said.