Plot of land central to the Oka Crisis returned
‘My contribution to reconciliation,’ developer says
in 1989, the mayor of oka, Que., announced plans to build 60 condominiums and expand a golf course from nine to 18 holes. the next summer protesters dragged a fishing hut onto the proposed expansion site and erected a banner, reading, “do you know that this is mohawk land?”
soon, mohawks from ontario and new york knew it; protesters on parliament hill knew it, and Canada was rattled by blockades, hunger strikes and, in oka, gunfire.
it has been 29 years since the oka Crisis, the 78-day conflict between defenders of the piece of land and provincial police and the Canadian army, which resulted in the death of police officer Cpl. marcel lemay.
then-premier robert Bourassa called in the army and there were tense face-toface confrontations between natives and soldiers.
they eventually reached a deal to end the barricade and cancel the expansion of the golf course. still, the 60 hectares of treed land were not returned to the local council, the mohawk Council of Kanesatake.
although ottawa confirmed the status of the land as mohawk with what’s called the Kanesatake interim land Base Governance act, there was no organized handover. instead, the community was left with a noman’s-land — neither native reserve nor municipal park.
on thursday, the 29th anniversary of the start of the standoff, Quebec developer Gregoire Gollin said he acted in the “spirit of reconciliation” and signed an agreement to return the pine forest to the council.
“this is my contribution to reconciliation,” Gollin said in a phone interview thursday.
he said the forest could not be developed and has heritage value for the mohawks. “it was planted by their ancestors,” he said.
MONTREAL • Passengers aboard an Air Canada flight were sent flying out of their seats and banging into the overhead lockers when a plane hit severe turbulence in mid-air.
About three dozen passengers and crew were injured Thursday on the Air Canada flight travelling from Toronto to Sydney, Australia. The plane diverted to Honolulu.
Eyewitnesses described a gut-churning drop in altitude that slammed passengers and flight attendants into the ceiling.
Linda Woodhouse, an Albertan who is moving to Australia, said people had just begun to wake up and move around when the airplane experienced several seconds of minor turbulence. A few moments later, “the plane just dropped,” she said.
“The lady in front of me flew up to the ceiling, so I was trying to grab her and make sure she wasn’t injured.
“Some people were either getting up to get up to the washroom, or the first little bit of turbulence might have knocked their seatbelts off, and flight attendants were getting up to serve us,” she said in a phone interview from Honolulu airport.
“Those individuals unfortunately flew up and hit the ceiling of the plane and dropped back down again.”
Jess Smith told TV station KHON, “I saw the people ahead of me hitting the overhead baggage compartments and then just slamming back into their seats.”
Alex Macdonald, a passenger from Brisbane, Australia, told the CBC, “(It) was just a bunch of noise, people extremely shocked, and then a very eerie stillness throughout the cabin as people tried to grasp what had happened.”
Flight AC33 was about two hours past Hawaii over the Pacific Ocean early Thursday morning when “unforecasted and sudden turbulence” caused “minor injuries” for about 35 travellers and triggered a turnaround, Air Canada said in an email — though local emergency services highlighted nine “serious” injuries and 30 hospitalizations.
Woodhouse credits the crew and passengers with springing into action in the wake of the drop. Four passengers with medical training walked up and down the aisles, helping the injured and reporting their issues to the pilots and crew.
“There were some facial lacerations, so they put sterile strips on them,” she said. “There were a couple of people with head and neck injuries from flying up and hitting the ceiling.”
Woodhouse said Air Canada has told passengers they will spend the night in a hotel and will likely continue their journeys tomorrow. Despite the shock, she said she has no qualms about getting on the plane.
“It could have been a lot worse,” she said.
The aircraft, a Boeing 777200 jetliner, had 269 passengers and 15 crew members on board, who were greeted by medical personnel on arrival at Honolulu airport at 6:45 a.m. local time.
Thirty people were transported to hospital, with nine in “serious” condition, said Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokeswoman Shayne Enright.
Paramedics assessed seven others who declined treatment, she said.
“A lot of lacerations, bumps and bruises, neck and back pain,” Enright said in a phone interview. “No open fractures — nothing visible.”
The airline said it is arranging hotel accommodations and meals for passengers in Honolulu as well as options for resumption of the flight.