Oka witnesses keeping mum

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A Quebec coroner's inquest into the shooting death of a provincial police officer during the 1990 Oka crisis is getting bogged down by Mohawk witnesses refusing to answer questions.

Dennis Nicholas, who was known during the stand-off by the warrior code-name Psycho, asked for a 10-day break to go back to his longhouse and consult with the Mohawk chiefs, clan mothers and people of Kahnawake.

The Feb. 2 request came after Nicholas delivered a 15-minute speech to the court in Mohawk without the aid of a translator. He also spoke for a further 20 minutes in English on the history of his treaty rights as a Native.

Nicholas was one of 33 Mohawk witnesses scheduled to testify at the year-old inquest into the July 11, 1990 shooting death of Cpl. Marcel Lemay. The police officer died during a police raid on a Mohawk road block near Oka, Que., a small community just west of Montreal.

Coroner Guy Gilbert granted Nicholas' request despite objections from provincial police lawyers, who have accused the Natives of undermining the inquest with their own "wall of silence."

Quebec police threatened to boycott the inquiry altogether in late January, claiming that Gilbert was giving Native witnesses preferential treatment. They were upset with the Mohawks continued refusal under oath to name the other Natives who were behind the barricade the day Lemay was killed.

In two hours of bitter legal arguing, Jan. 25, police lawyer Mario Bilodeau accused Gilbert of allowing two types of justice - one for Indians and another for everyone else.

Bilodeau was particularly upset with Akwesasne Mohawk Warrior Society leader Frances Boots' refusal to name which of his warriors were behind the barricades the night before Lemay died.

But Gilbert refused to order the Mohawks to name names, saying he did not want the Natives to testify through coercion.

Lawyers for the provincial police also requested a halt to the proceedings last November, claiming the inquest had strayed from its mandate.

Daniel Rochefort, the lawyer representing several senior police officers, said Gilbert had already drawn his conclusions before he'd heard all the evidence.