Walking softly...

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While the tensions between the townspeople of Oka and Mohawks from adjacent Kanehsatake have largely been transformed into neighbourly relations since the crisis of 1990, traditionalist Ellen Gabriel asserts that the real problems have yet to be resolved.

Gabriel--who was the spokesperson for the Mohawk community during that fateful summer--told the Mirror, "Nothing's changed. We might have some new agreement between the Band Council and the federal government, but it doesn't change the fact that, according to the government, Kanehsatake is Crown land."

Gabriel asserts that 98-million acres of Quebec are Mohawk territory--including the village of Oka. And a group of traditionalists march through the town each year to demonstrate that fact.

Last Tuesday's march numbered around 100, and was a peaceful affair, according to Oka mayor Yvan Patry.

"This is a small place. We see each other at the post office all the time. We have to get along," Patry says. But he admits that there are some people in both communities who don't speak to each other.

Gabriel also says she's sure that some of the townspeople might think the words "maudite sauvage" when they see a Mohawk.

"But they never say it," she says. "They wouldn't dare."

--John Edmonds

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