The Oka Crisis

The “Oka Crisis” often brings to mind the often published, somewhat famous image of the Mohawk warrior whose face is covered with a bandana, dressed head to toe in camouflage equipped with a large gun on his back, nose to nose with a military soldier. It is an image that is used to symbolize the sense of tension that existed far preceding the 78 day standoff. Not only was there tension between the Mohawk people and the federal government but it had a strong theme of racial tension that thread itself through the dispute.

Misrepresentation on behalf of a large proportion of media coverage and the actions of the federal governments would act to perpetually vilify the Mohawk people. So how did this come to such a dramatic and violent point? I hope to highlight the events that happened with the Oka Crisis just a few decades ago that sparked a controversy that has been going on over land disputes since the arrival of Europeans many years ago.

” (Swan , 2010) The history of this land claim dates back to the 1717 when “the governor of New France granted the priests of St.Sulpice the seigneury on the Lake of Two Mountains as a Catholic mission for the Indians.”(York & Pindera, 1991) “After the Great Peace of Montreal, the Iroquois Mohawk would move their people near Montreal claiming the French governor gave them a grant for nearly nine square miles of this land at the Lake of Two Mountains.” (CBC Digital Archives)

The Sulpicians would not honor this though and granted the lands to their selves. There would be repeated requests by the Mohawks for recognition of land rights between “1781 and 1961” that were continuously ignored or evaded by the government, and a decision by the “highest court in the British Empire in 1911” also failed to provide vindication for the Mohawk (York & Pindera, 1991). In 1936 the Catholic Church began selling off the property for agricultural use and the Mohawk objected strongly to the land being put up for sale. “When some of the land was purchased by the federal government and administered as a reserve, it was never granted official reserve status despite the residents submitting several official requests in opposition.” (Swan, 2010) You get a great sense of this feeling of land ownership in Alanis Obomsawin’s movie that covers the Oka Crisis standoff, titled “270 Years of Resistance” which opens up with the a wooden sign that reads “This Land was never surrendered” (Obomsawin, 1993).

The Mohawks had filed a land claim before the final approval of the golf course expansion took place arguing that these plans would be taking their rightful land which included an important ancestral burial ground and sacred grove. It would also be adversely affecting important rights such as hunting and fishing. That claim would be rejected though in 1977 due to what the government claimed was a “lack of evidence for specific legal requirements.” (Swan , 2010) In 1989 the mayor of Oka Jean Oullete made the final approval which would seal the plans for development on sacred Mohawk grounds. The town people of Oka were divided with a majority of people initially opposed to the issue. Luc Boivin, a resident of Oka, made the following statement when asked about the land dispute, “One half of the land the municipality is after will be used for a golf course, the other for residential development. Most of the people here were against the project but the mayor completely ignored our suggestions and he even ignored the minister of the Environments suggestion, who suggested doing a study before doing any planning at all”. (Obomsawin, 1993)

The mayor was ignoring not only the Mohawk people from whom these decisions were directly affecting but the general consensus which was not necessarily in support of the expansion. On March 10, 1990 the people of Kanesatake took a stand in the Pines on a dirt road that lead to the golf course by creating a road block. They set up barricades and sand bags around their land, as well as placing barbed wire through the trees. Since there was no Warrior Society in Kanehsatake itself, volunteer warriors were recruited from two other Mohawk reserves, Kahnawake and Akwesasne to staff the roadblock. (Swan , 2010) It was a stand of unity to protect the small piece of land they had managed to hold on to for their future generations. The Mohawk were asking for respect, and to recognize their rights and independence over their ancestral land.

It wasn’t just about the land though but about protecting a history and preserving a future. One recollection captures this; “My memories of that summer at Kanehsatake are so different from the stories told by the media. Their attention was focused on the barricades. To most of them, this was just a cop story; the police & soldiers were there to “restore law & order,” to put things back the way they were. But most of the people behind the barricades were my family, friends, & relatives. And they didn’t want things to go back to the way they were. They knew that would mean a certain steady ride down a one-way street to an oblivion called assimilation” (People of the Pines, pp. 9-12). The mayor of Oka was quick to give the protesters an ultimatum, remove the barricades by July 9th or the Quebec Provincial Police also known as Sûreté du Québec would intervene and remove it.

Two injunctions ordering the blockade be removed were ignored by the Mohawk. The people relented and for three months the barricade would remain intact until ultimately the Sûreté du Québec arrived in full force in an attempt to dismantle it (Obomsawin, 1993). Certain details of the events that would occur next are unclear at best with discrepancies in stories from both sides. Regardless it was one of many pinnacle moments that would start what media would dub a National Crisis in Canadian History. On July 11th 1990, the mayor called for the Sûreté du Québec (SQ), Quebec’s tactical intervention provincial police force to intervene against the barricades. The Sûreté du Québec moved upon them in the early morning between 5 and 6am, wearing “dark uniforms, bullet proof vests and carrying semi-automatic guns” (York & Pindera, 1991) and stormed the barricade the Mohawks had set up. They were met with the persistence of the Mohawk people standing firmly. There dozen of Mohawk Warriors, which much like the Sûreté du Québec were “wearing dark jumpsuits, bullet proof vests, carrying assault weapons and semi-automatic weapons” (York & Pindera, 1991) along with them included not only men but the woman of Kanesatake, warriors within themselves, standing with them protecting their land.

The Sûreté du Québec had sent in over “one hundred officers” (York & Pindera, 1991) and in addition to the tactical intervention squad there were also several dozen riot police holding the rear. In support of the Mohawk warriors, some the warriors of Ganawake along with the nearby people of Kahnawake reserve set up sympathy roadblocks. They blocked two major highways leading into their reserve and by “7am they have blocked the Mercier bridge.” (CBC Digital Archives) Tension, rage and confusion arose after the police force began to hit the protestors with tear gas and flash grenades at the golf course road block. In all this confusion gun fire opened and a “31 year old Swat team member Marcel Lemay was shot and died soon after from his injuries” (CBC Digital Archives). Police quickly moved back and retreated. In the aftermath claims were made that Marcel was shot by accident by another member of the force in the confusion (CBC Digital Archives), well contrasting accusations were also made that he was “shot by a Mohawk warrior.” (Obomsawin, 1993)

When it came to the issue of who shot first the police in one hand made claims the Mohawks initiated the gun fire, well the Mohawks on the other hand denied this and claimed they stuck behind their initial promise that they “would not fire unless fired upon” (Obomsawin, 1993). “Five years later a coroner’s report into the death would conclude that the fatal shot to officer Lemay was fired by a Mohawk warrior” (CBC Digital Archives). No one was ever identified as the murderer and no charges were ever made in the matter. Police at this point retreated. The minister of Native affairs, Mr. John Ciaccia immediately contacted the protestors.

He asked to meet with them and “promised that if negotiations can begin the Quebec police force would remain at bay in the town of Oka” (York & Pindera, 1991), the Mohawk then agreed to begin negotiations but once this eventually materialized later on the situation would prove to not be a simple resolution in any sense. The violence and tragedy of that July day can be argued an unnecessary and grave mistake of the not only of the Sûreté du Québec police force but the higher up they were acting on behalf of. Blame can undeniably be directed at all parties included but had they not acted so aggressively one might speculate that the day may not have ended in blood shed. One thing often not taken into consideration or talked about is the misrepresentation that the Sûreté du Québec were a “neutral party” sent in to defuse the situation. This was un-true, “there was pre-existing tension over a long standing bad relationship between the SQ police force and the three Mohawk communities involved in the Oka crisis.” (Steckley & Letts, 2010) The SQ police force had been a player in a “long history of hostility between the provinces French and Mohawk communities.” (Steckley & Letts, 2010)

“More than 10,000 police officers would soon arrive back in Oka, a village of merely 18,000 people.”(York & Pindera, 1991) Heavily armed, police set up road blocks into the village. All non-residents and first nations at this point were turned back and the residents of Shatugea become furious. This added another level of hostility to the already mounting tension over the Mercier Bridge still being blocked (CBC Digital Archives). On July 29th, a piece camp was organized in the town of Oka which more than 2,500 people come from all over the continent to show their support for the Mohawk Nation (Obomsawin, 1993).This huge act of support displayed to the Mohawks that they had a hand in battling the government. All across Canada that year, protests were held to support the Mohawks at Oka and to draw attention to their own causes and this helped to influence many Canadians of non-native descent into their favour.

Those standing behind them helped to reinforce the sense that they were fighting something much bigger than what they may had initially anticipated when they first blocked the dirt road. “Mohawk bands from Ontario, Quebec and New York State also file land claim grievances in support” of the Mohawks fighting. (CBC Digital Archives). Those in support of the Mohawk people were often furious that the price of what the land meant to the Mohawk people and what was happening in resistance was not worth the price of a single golf course (Obomsawin, 1993). There was a great division across the nation on what was happening. People seemed either to side strongly for them or against them. Comments of hatred and prejudice floated around freely. One common comment was the referral to the Mohawk people as “savages.” Even the arrogance of the mayor Jean Oullete was strikingly obvious.

His blatantly negative attitude towards the Mohawk people doubtingly added to the situation that was taking place. Problems with the barricades caused several complications and would further add to the tension. Food, medication and vital resources were the centre of many arguments. Getting these necessities across the border was a struggle. People often feared crossing the barricade to get life necessities or even medical care as they were, with just cause, scared. There are reports that Mohawk people were often “harassed, threatened or even harmed when they would enter the surrounding towns.” (Swan, 2010) They also feared that they would not be allowed back across the barricade. The mayor along with government officials eventually intervened stating that “there would be no restrictions on food and necessities.” (Obomsawin, 1993)

Food banks were then established so residents did not have to cross the barricades and food was arranged to be brought in by trucks. The arguments over the food supplies would not end there though and continued to be a source of conflict throughout the standoff. Later on in the standoff angry mobs acting against the Mohawks would make getting food to those on the other side of the barricade nearly impossible, leaving them at times without this vital necessity. Protests and riot against the Mohawks surrounding the barricades would occur frequently during the standoff. An example of such was a three night riot that broke out in the nearby town of Chateauguay. In Alanis Obomsawin’s documentary “270 Years of Resistance” there was a recording capturing one of these events. You can see hundreds of people crowded around in the dark of night, screaming in a united hatred “savages” as a stuffed dummy in the image of a Mohawk warrior is being burnt. (Obomsawin, 1993)

This instance would highlight the division that was so prevalent at the time which was being further magnified by the growing conflict. There was real danger that existed for people who were aboriginal as racial tension was at a feverish pitch, this would be further enforced through the prejudice attitudes even from positions of some of the political leaders in charge of handling the situation. Throughout the crisis the Mohawk were constantly misrepresented in the media which is not surprising in that throughout history this has been a theme for aboriginal peoples, especially in some of the first written literature. Often dehumanized or misunderstood from the outsider’s point of view, documented with an apparent feeling of ethnocentrism. With these riots becoming a frequent issue and increasingly more violent and dangerous as the days proceeded (with several people and law enforcement being harmed in the process), the need for a resolve was obvious.

Negotiations were seemingly not progressing and appeared to be screeching to a stand-still. Pressure was on to end the crisis, but the Mohawk people couldn’t help but interpret the “narrow mandates of the negotiations as a clear indication that a settlement was not what was being negotiated. They wanted recognition of Mohawk sovereignty and their right to defend their land with freedom from prosecution to what they considered to be an act of self-defence.” (York & Pindera, 1991). Heated discussions were in the works to call in the army but fears that an army attack would incite a national spread riot from aboriginal groups left many political leaders against the idea. The federal government knew they were going to make a move but were split on how to proceed, the army however “had no intention of launching a surprise attack despite the desires of some Cabinet ministers” (York & Pindera, 1991). However the army would eventually be called into action.

On August 20th at 9am the first army vehicle would arrive in Kahnawake at the barricades of Highway 138. Lieutenant-Colonel Robin Gagnon was the commanding officer of the troops of Chateauguay, when he arrived that day “he shook hands with a small group of warrior leaders who had left their own barricade to meet him” (York & Pindera, 1991) He was quick to establish a relationship with the Mohawk warriors, and a sense of relief was felt over the leave of the despised SQ police force. The army would not be met with the same reception in Kanesatake. Lieutenant-Colonol Pierre Diagle was met with hostility, he wanted to position his men where he could keep the Mohawk warriors within eye sight and they were not willing to oblige to his demands. “They were not prepared to make any compromise until their sovereignty was recognized and were unwilling to play any friendly games” with Lieutenant-Colonel Daigle (York & Pindera, 1991).

The army would initially refrain from advancing on the barricade lines and negotiations would begin to proceed again. The peace that was initially kept would soon dissipate after negotiations once more came to a halt. Daily peace negotiations were becoming long, unorganized days due to the fact that mobs had blocked off routes for the Mohawk reserves to meet and organize their demands prior to approaching the table. Anger outpoured from those still at the barricades when the army eventually advance onto the lines of the barricades; many people had evacuated fearing for their lives if this was to occur. The army maintained that they would not be the ones to shoot first. Despite the army dismantling their three of their barricades and putting extreme pressure on them no shots would be exchanged, although some allegations would be made that some soldiers were using unnecessary and brute force to assault and intimidate some Mohawk men and woman. (York & Pindera, 1991)

It would be August 29th that would mark a beginning to an end of the standoff when Kahnawake Mohawks negotiated with Lieutenant Colonol Robin Gagnon an end to their part in the standoff and reopened the Mercier Bridge. Once the Mercier bridge was opened things would look bleak for the Mohawks in Oka as the “Quebec government rejected all further negotiations” (Swan, 2010). Approximately one month later on September 26th the Mohawks shocked the nation in a sudden end to the crisis. In an almost ceremonial act they “dismantled their guns, threw them in a fire. They then ceremonially burned tobacco and walked out of the pines and back to the reservation.” (York & Pindera, 1991) The abrupt end took the army and law enforcement by surprise which evoked a scene of chaos. Once they had made the walk back into the reserve the Canadian Forces and SQ police force acted quickly detaining many of the warriors.

After the end of the 78 day stand-off the plans for the golf course expansion that had begun the entire crisis was cancelled and the Oka Crisis eventually played a vital role in the development of Canada’s First Nations Policing Policy which would implement the use of Aboriginal Police in Canada, which are “police forces responsible for public order on First Nations across Canada” (Swan, 2010) A woman named Chimamanda Adichie once made a speech about the danger of what she referred to as the single story.

In this speech she warned, “The single story leaves the listener with just one side of something far more complex. It is not that the story is untrue, but that it is incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” When looking at the Oka Crisis, watching video clips from media coverage of those days it is easy to get lost in the single story of a 77 day standoff over a golf course. What is lost without looking beyond the initial conflict and the failure of political solution’s in Canada is the stories of those who have suffered from assimilation throughout generations and the courage it took to unite to demand sovereignty and respect as a peoples who have a right to their land.

Reference Page:

York, G., & Pindera, L. (1991). People of the pines; the warriors and the legacy of oka. (1st ed., pp. 19-225). Toronto, Ontario: Little, Brown & Company.

Obomsawin, A., Luhovy, Y., Koenig, W., Neale, C., Vendette, C., Grandmont, F.,National Film Board of Canada., … Morningstar Entertainment Inc. (1993). Kanehsatake: 270 years of resistance. Montreal, Quebec: National Film Board of Canada.

Swan , H. (2010). Oka; a political crisis and it’s legacy. (1st ed., Vol. 01, pp. 1-42). Vancouver BC: Douglas&McIntyre. DOI: www.douglas-mcintyre.com[->0]

CBC Digital Archives- The Oka Crisis.
Link: http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/civil-unrest/the-oka-crisis-1/topic-the-oka-crisis.html

Steckley, J., & Letts, G. (2010). Our stories- The warrior frame: How intro sociology texts cast the Mohawk. In Elements of Sociology: A critical Canadian Introduction (2nd ed., pp. 162-163). Ontario, Canada: Oxford University Press Canada.