Monday 16 October 2000

Mohawks okay deal with feds

LYNN MOORE
The Gazette

By a mere two votes, Kanesatake residents have ratified a controversial agreement with the federal government that will give the band council the power to enact bylaws governing its territory near Oka.

The final tally of Saturday's vote was 239 in favour of the land-governance agreement, 237 opposed and 10 spoiled ballots, Kanesatake grand chief James Gabriel said yesterday.

"Obviously, it is a very tight vote, but we said from the beginning that it takes a simple majority to pass, and that is what the results are," Gabriel said.

The negotiation process that led to the agreement began in the wake of the 1990 Oka crisis. In June, federal Indian Affairs Minister Robert Nault described the agreement as historic, calling it "self-government in the making."

Federal officials were notified of the closeness of the vote and agreed that a simple majority rules, Gabriel said. "There has been a very active campaign against the agreement. I think both sides worked very hard to get their people out," he said.

Opponents of the deal faxed a letter to Nault yesterday, saying they will appeal the results of the ratification vote, which concluded Saturday. Advance polls were held Oct. 7.

The process was flawed, said Pearl Bonspille, a Kanesatake homemaker. Among other things, staff working at the polling stations were band-council employees and there were no independent scrutineers, she said.

The person in charge of overseeing the vote, Robert Johnson, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

John Harding, a municipal police officer who is contesting his dismissal from the Kanesatake force, was one of the most vocal critics of the agreement.

"The ratification process was very, very rushed," Harding said yesterday. "The most important issue is that we weren't given the right to express our opinions" about the pact.

Gabriel said the next step in the process is for the federal government to enact legislation that will put the agreement into effect.

The pact will provide for a clear definition of Kanesatake lands and, for the first time, give the band council the power to enforce its bylaws on its territory.

"We will have a lot more control of our lands than what would be provided under the Indian Act," Gabriel said.

"In the case of reserves under the Indian Act, when (bylaws) are passed, they have to have the permission of the minister of Indian Affairs to be able to enact them.

"In our case, we won't need the permission of the minister."

The negotiation process that led to the tentative agreement began shortly after the armed conflict that became known as the Oka crisis.

One Surete du Quebec officer was killed when provincial police stormed a roadblock Mohawks had erected in an area called the Pines to block the expansion of a municipal golf course onto an ancestral Mohawk burial ground.

After the resulting 78-day standoff with provincial police and federal troops, the federal government bought about 160 properties near the disputed land, including part of the Pines.

The agreement officially transfers those lands to the band council. And it sets up the framework to harmonize Kanesatake and Oka municipal bylaws.

It also settles the question of jurisdiction, paving the way for economic development of the territory, Gabriel said.

"For many years, the status of our territory was ambiguous," he said.

For instance, if it is not clear whether provincial construction laws apply to the territory, it is very difficult to get entrepreneurs to build businesses, Gabriel said.

"This land-governance agreement removes that ambiguity," he said.

Harding said many community members are concerned about the sweeping powers the agreement gives the band council, and they still don't know how the agreement will affect their individual rights.

"Many people weren't sure which way to vote, and many didn't vote at all," Harding said.

There are between 1,100 and 1,200 eligible voters in Kanesatake, Gabriel said.

Focus and consultation groups were created prior to drafting the agreement's text, Gabriel said. Using input from that process, the text of the agreement was hammered out over two years, he said.

In July, there were two public meetings, but the second disintegrated when some attendees made efforts to call for Gabriel and another chief to resign, Gabriel said.

"We opted to continue with workshops (information sessions) rather than public-forum discussions because the agenda of discussing the land-governance issue was not kept," Gabriel said.