The name chosen for a condo development in Montreal's Hochelaga-Maisonneuve district has infuriated the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, on the South Shore.
The developer of the Osha condos says it wanted to play up the roots of the district, and came across a Wikipedia entry expounding on one theory about the origin of the name Hochelaga: that Osha Aga means "People of the Shaking Hands", and it was applied to explorer Jacques Cartier and his countrymen, who shook hands when greeting the First Nations people they encountered.
La Presse reports that on a billboard and in its promotional material, the developer cites an anecdote from former Mohawk chief Billy Two Rivers.
However, the Mohawk Council says Two Rivers was never asked for his permission to use the anecdote, and the Mohawk community doesn't want to be linked to a project it had nothing to do with and doesn't benefit from.
The developer says that because it found the anecdote on the internet, it thought the material was in the public domain and no permission was needed. It insists its goal was not to appropriate Mohawk history.