Your Questions About Nine West Commander

Donna asks…

What was the Oka crisis in Quebec province?

Our pick of the answers:

The Oka Crisis The Oka Crisis was a violent land dispute between the Mohawk nation of Kanesatake and the town of Oka. The crisis began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990. According to the record, in 1717, the governor of New France granted the lands encompassing the cemetery and the pines to a Catholic seminary. The Mohawk have always claimed that this grant was illegal. In 1936, the seminary sold the territory and vacated the area. In 1961, a nine-hole golf course, the Club de golf d'Oka, was built on a portion of the land. The Mohawk launched a legal protest against its construction. After many years of claims and research, in 1976, the claim was finally rejected for failing to meet key criteria. The tensions and prejudices would thus lead to the outbreak of the Oka Crisis. In 1989, the mayor of Oka, Jean Ouelette, announced that the members-only golf club course was to be expanded to eighteen holes. Besides, sixty luxury condominiums were planned to be built. As the Office of Native Claims had rejected the Mohawk claim on the land three years earlier, the plans were made without consultation with the Mohawks. A group of members of the Mohawk community erected a barricade blocking access to the area in question. Mayor Ouellette of the town of Oka demanded compliance with the court order, but the protestors refused. On July 11 the mayor asked the Surete du Québec (Quebec Provincial Police) to intervene with the Mohawk protest, claiming that criminal activity had been practised around the barricade. A police emergency response team attacked the barricade deploying tear gas canisters and flash bang grenades. It is unclear whether the police or Mohawks opened fire with gunshots first. A 31-year-old policeman Marcel Lemay was shot in the face and died a short while later. The situation escalated as the local Mohawks were joined by natives from across Canada and the United States. Other Mohawks blockaded the Mercier Bridge between the Island of Montreal and the South Shore suburbs. The Canadian federal government agreed to spend $5.3 million to purchase the land where the expansion of the golf course was to take place, but the offer was rejected by the Mohawks. When the Surete du Québec had lost control of the situation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were brought in on August 14. They were prohibited from using force and were soon overwhelmed by the Mohawks and mobs created by the blocked traffic. Ten constables were hospitalized. Finally, on August 29 the Mohawks blocking the Mercier Bridge negotiated an end to their protest with Lieutenant Colonel Robin Gagnon, commander responsible for monitoring the blockades along the south shore of the St. Lawrence River west of Montreal. This resulted in the resolution of the siege on the Kahnawake reserve. The Mohawks at Oka felt betrayed. The Quebec government rejected all further negotiations. On September 25, the final engagement of the crisis took place. Mohawks taunted the soldiers and then started throwing water balloons at them. The next day, the Mohawks dismantled their guns and threw them in a fire, ceremonially burned tobacco and then walked back to the reserve. Many were detained by the Canadian Forces and arrested by the SQ. The Oka Crisis lasted seventy-eight days and resulted in the death of one man, Corporal Marcel Lemay. The golf-course expansion, which had originally triggered the situation, was cancelled. The Oka Crisis eventually precipitated the development of Canada's First Nations Policing Policy. Jean Ouellette was re-elected Mayor of Oka by acclamation in 1991. Mohawk are natives of the Iroquois family and members of the Iroquois Confederation. Http://www.provincequebec.com/history-of-quebec/the-oka-crisis/

Mary asks…

when was the covent garden pub bombing?

Our pick of the answers:

- AN IRA bomb which injured lunchtime drinkers in Covent Garden yesterday marked the most blatant attack on civilians so far in the latest terrorist campaign in central London. It also brought back memories of attacks in Britain during the 1970s when pubs in Guildford, Woolwich, Birmingham, Caterham and Maidstone were blown up - although then there was loss of life. Shoppers, tourists and office workers were walking in the sunshine in the narrow streets around The Sussex pub in Long Acre, where the bomb had been planted. Although it was half-empty yesterday, the bar which bore the brunt of the blast is often packed. One of the five victims, a middle-aged man, suffered serious facial and neck injuries and later underwent prolonged surgery at University College Hospital. None of the other victims, also middle-aged men, was seriously hurt. A warning had been given at 1.13pm, just nine minutes before yesterday's explosion next to Stringfellow's nightclub and 50 yards from West End theatres and the Garrick Club where many MPs are members. The warning, telephoned with the IRA codeword to a radio station, said only that the bomb was in 'the Leicester Square area'. After the explosion yesterday, Commander George Churchill-Coleman, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch, said the bomb was a small device, but big enough in the confined space to cause very serious injuries. 'This is now typical of the cynical disregard that the terrorist has for public safety and life, indeed people in general,' he said. He appealed to the public to remain vigilant to help minimise the number of bombings, but added: 'Whatever you do, do not be deterred from going about your normal business - that's what the terrorists want you to do.' John Cracknell, 24, who was about 10 yards from the pub when the bomb went off, said: 'There was glass all over the pavement and some smoke coming out of the building. I ran in through the front door of the pub and downstairs to see if anybody was injured. The stairs were strewn with rubble.' An arts student, Sef Townsend, 44, said he had been about to enter the pub at 1.30, but had stopped to give a tourist directions. 'If I had been three seconds earlier, I would have been in there,' he said. 'I went in and saw the carnage. The bar was completely destroyed and there was a man lying there. He looked very ill.' The blast, and the seven London bombings last week, have raised fears of a prolonged autumn campaign on so-called 'soft' targets in mainland Britain.

Powered by Yahoo! Answers

If you're interested, read more here Your Questions About Nine West Commander