Oka mayor accuses Kanesatake grand chief of interference in municipal election

The municipal election in Oka is taking a turn for the bitter.

Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Otsi Simon is throwing his support behind rookie mayoral candidate Marie-Claude Provencher — a move the incumbent Pascal Quevillon calls unethical.

"If it was a mayor of a municipality who took a position against the mayor of a neighbouring town, it would not be well received," Quevillon said. "It's a lack of ethics."

The grand chief says he likes that Provencher appears to be prepared to work with the Mohawks to find a solution "in the spirit of reconciliation."

"She's open, respectful and we see that she's ready," Simon told Radio-Canada Thursday.

Simon and Quevillon have been embroiled in a dispute over a housing development on land that's part of the Kanesatake Mohawks' decades-old unresolved land claim.

• Frustration mounts as land dispute continues in Oka, Que.

Simon says the Mohawks were never consulted about the project and he wants it stopped before it encroaches further on a stand of trees known as The Pines.

Tensions flared in July when a dozen trees at the edge of the stand were cut down to make way for a power line, triggering protests by Kanesatake Mohawks.

At that time, Quevillon said the developer of the Domaines des Collines D'Oka had reached an agreement with the Mohawk council back in 2003, but Simon claimed there are no formal agreements on file.

• OPINION | The Oka Crisis was supposed to be a wake-up call. Little has changed in 27 years
• Potential development prompts worries of another Oka Crisis

Mayor, grand chief trade barbs

Quevillon said Simon's support for Provencher amounts to "interference," and that Simon is using the candidate, who is new to municipal politics.

"It's in the interests of [Simon] to have a puppet," Quevillon said. 

Relations haven't always been so bitter between the mayor and the grand chief. In 2015, on the 25th anniversary of the Oka Crisis, the two led a reconciliation process that aimed to leave old wounds behind.

At that time, Oka's municipal council and Kanesatake's band council promised to work together to protect The Pines.

Quevillon now accuses Simon of "one-way reconciliation" and taking unilateral decisions without consulting Oka officials.

Simon, meanwhile, says Quevillon does not respect the Mohawks and refuses to admit that they "were there long before."

Simon has warned that a wrong move could cause the situation to degenerate further, raising fears of a new standoff between the Mohawks and the municipality.

• TIMELINE | Oka Crisis: 78 days of civil unrest
• CBC ARCHIVES | Armed stand-off begins at Oka
• Reflections of Oka: stories of the Mohawk standoff