Canada signs land deal with Mohawks

The Canadian government has signed a comprehensive land rights agreement with the country's indigenous Mohawk people.

The deal covers an area of one-thousand square kilometres, at Kanesatake, west of the city of Montreal, which was the focus of a violent stand-off ten years ago between the government and armed Mohawks.

The seventy-eight day confrontation, in which a policeman was killed, was sparked by plans to extend a golf course.

It shocked the Canadian public and prompted the government to adopt a more conciliatory approach towards land claims by native Americans. A BBC correspondent in Montreal says it's hoped the new agreement will encourage a greater sense of autonomy for the Mohawks and promote economic development in the region, where unemployment is as high as forty percent.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service