"Mohawk Gets Conditional Discharge"

ST. JEROME, Que. (CP) - The first Mohawk sentenced for an offence committed during last summer's native crisis was granted a conditional discharge in Quebec Court on Wednesday.

After pleading guilty to obstructing a road in Oka, Peter Gabriel, 30, of the Kahnesatake Mohawk settlement, was ordered to pay $100 to Fondation Mira - an organization that trains and provides guide dogs for the blind - and $50 to the Kahnesatake community centre where his wife works.

Judge Stephen Cuddihy said Gabriel, who has no prior convictions, did not deserve a criminal record.

In a statement to police, Gabriel, a tree trimmer for the municipality of Westmount in the Montreal area, said that on July 11 he tried, but failed, to cut down a tree to add to a barricade at Oka that Mohawks erected to fight the expansion of a golf course on land they claim.

The same day, Quebec provincial police attacked the barricade and Cpl. Marcel Lemay was shot dead.

Also on Wednesday, Peter Canatonquin, 47, of Kahnesatake, was sent to trial on a charge of participating in a riot. His trial is set for June 13, 1991.

Frank Nelson of Kahnesatake was sent to trial on charges of obstructing a road and obstructing a police officer.

He renounced his right to a preliminary hearing, and is to return to court Dec. 5.