He wasn’t invited, but the Mayor of Oka showed up to a peaceful protest held by Kanesatake residents on Thursday to mark the International Day of Human Rights.
They gathered at the Oka golf course, where a proposed expansion project served as the catalyst for the so-called 1990 “Oka crisis.”
“I don’t need an invitation, the golf course belongs to the municipality of Oka,” Pascal Quevillion told APTN News.
The Mohawks say the neighbouring municipality has ignored their fundamental rights for hundreds of years – but Quevillion, in turn, says their cause is rooted in “fake news.”
“I’m here today to establish facts – to establish peace. Because what Ms. Gabriel (Ellen Gabriel) is doing is stirring the pot between our communities,” Quevillion explained. “What she’s saying is false.”
The municipality, however, is petitioning to have the Pines – an ancestral forest on Kanesatake lands – designated a Quebec heritage site.
Despite Quevillion’s insistence that Oka is merely trying to “save the trees,” a legal analysis completed on behalf of the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake revealed a possible hidden agenda.
According to the analysis, this heritage designation would give Oka the right to control and/or veto any projects or initiatives that involve the Pines, including developer Gregoire Gollin’s offer to donate a portion of the forest back to Kanesatake Mohawks through the federal government’s “ecological gift” program.
Those at the heart of the cause insist land theft – and blatant human rights abuses – are still occurring on Quevillion’s watch. (more...)
‘We’re not tolerating this’: Kanesatake pushes back against any development on unceded land
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