Photographer, warrior linked by famous news image die on same day

It was an iconic image of the 1990 Oka Crisis: A masked Mohawk warrior raises his rifle in victory as he stands atop an overturned Surete du Quebec squad car.

By Jeff Heinrich, Montreal Gazette; Canwest News ServiceMarch 14, 2009

From: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Photographer+warrior+linked+famous+news+image+same/1389489/story.html

Now both the warrior and the photographer who took his picture are dead -- both at the same young age, 41, both on the same day, and both in tragic circumstances.

Richard Nicholas was killed Tuesday afternoon in a car crash outside Oka.

Tom Hanson, a Canadian Press photographer, collapsed and died a few hours later, playing hockey in Ottawa.

"It kind of gives people goosebumps," said Nicholas' cousin Sonya Gagnier, a Kanesatake band councillor.

"To think that the very man who took that picture died on the same day at the same age -- how miraculous is it that something like that would happen?" Nicholas and Hanson never met, but the photo is legendary in Kanesatake. "Everybody has copies of that picture -- it's so significant for the people here," said Gagnier.

In another strange twist, the accident that killed Nicholas was on Highway 344 -- the same highway he helped block during the Oka Crisis when the picture was taken.

A photograph similar to this one was shot by Canadian Press photographer Tom Hanson in July of 1990. Here, Mohawk warrior Richard Nicholas stands atop an overturned Surete du Quebec van on Highway 344 on Day 1 of the Oka crisis. The Quebec government eventually called in the Canadian Forces to end the standoff, which lasted 78 days.
Photograph by: John Kenney, Montreal Gazette, Canwest News Service, File, Montreal Gazette; Canwest News Service