The Oka Crisis

The Mohawk Defense Of Kanasetake

July 11, 1990. The SQ arrives at the Pines and demands that the Mohawk
Indian natives who have put up barricades around their burial ground and
occupied a large tract of land leave immediately. After hours of verbal
confrontation, the Sret du Qubec lobs volleys of canisters of tear gas and
concussion grenades into the Pines and moves in. The Mohawks resist. The
ensuing exchange of gunfire is inevitable. The first victim of what is later to
be known as the "Oka crisis" is thirty-one-year-old Quebec policeman
Corporal Marcel Lemay.

It is not clear who fired first. There has been some debate about how he was
actually shot. Some say that he fell off a tree and accidentally shot himself.
Others say he was shot by the Mohawk warriors, and others still say he was hit
by a stray bullet, perhaps from friendly fire. If the two sides had decided to
shoot to kill, Corporal Lemay would not have been the only victim of the
exchange.

The other victims of the Crisis were an elderly Mohawk woman and an elderly
man. The woman died of heart failure in early September; a few days before she
was attacked, together with other Native elderly people and children fleeing from
Kahnawake, by a stone-throwing mob. The man was poisoned by the tear gas
that wafted down from the Pines on July 11. He never fully recovered and died
several months later.

More Than Nine More Holes

The Canadian summer of 1990 was indeed a hot, vulnerable summer. The Oka
crisis was sparked off by the decision taken by the Municipality of Oka and Le
Club de golf dOka Inc. to extend a nine hole golf course originally built in 1959
on land that the Mohawks claim is, and has always been, theirs. The 39 hectares
of land in question include a Native cemetery and parts of a pine forest known as
"the Pines".

Various investigations, like those made by archaeologists in 1970 and National

Geographic in 1974, confirm the validity of the Mohawk claims. However, as it
had already done in 1959, the Municipality of Oka ignored the peaceful protests
of the First Nations (as Native Indians are known in Canada) and went on with
the proposed project. This lead the Mohawks, on March 10, 1990, to occupy
parts of the wooded area to protect their burial ground and trees. The pines had
been planted by the Mohawks and Algonquins in the nineteenth century, under
the guidance of the Sulpician fathers.

The Mohawks' occupation of parts of their land lasted more than six months.
After the initial shoot out, the police backed down and four days later were
replaced by the Canadian Armed Forces. By August 14, there were more than
2500 soldiers positioned outside Kahnawake and the town of Oka. Inside the
besieged area that had been vastly narrowed down by the army, there were
about a hundred people, including warriors, women and children. In his book
Native Peoples in Canada, published with Lilianne Ersnestine Krosenbrink-
Gelissen in 1993, James S. Frideres writes about how "the armed forces began to
engage in extensive psychological warfare such as sending jets at low altitude
over the reserve, stationing tanks around the area and displaying a range of
heavy weapons; e.g., howitzers, tanks, bulldozers." The Mohawks were armed
with small weapons; some of them had AK-47s.

The Mohawks' decision to use weapons to defend their land caused a great deal
of internal strife. Some of the Natives saw an armed occupation of the disputed
land as the only way to protect themselves. Others in the community felt that it
was not right or even wise to resort to weapons. However, according to Frideres,
after the experience of the police raid of July 11, "the Native community was
suddenly galvanized into a state of unity by the traumatizing effect of an outside
threat.

For the duration of the armed stand-off, the community appeared to be united
on central issues of land rights, sovereignity and relations with non-Native
society. The continued negative experience with the police and the armed forces
seemed only to reinforce the reaction. Allegations of human rights violations
against the police and the army have been widespread and persistent." The
armed stand-off at Oka sparked Native blockades on railways, highways and
bridges primarily in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia.

The Mohawk Nation

The Mohawks claim that they are a sovereign people and that their land does not
fall under the jurisdiction of the Canadian government. In their book, The
Warriors and Legacy of Oka, journalists York and Pindera who spend weeks with
the besieged Mohawks, state that "by international standards, the Mohawks can
make a strong argument for sovereignity: they were never conquered by military
force; they have never agreed to give up their sovereignity; they signed treaties
with European countries on a nation-to-nation basis; and they served as equal
partners with Britain in military alliances."

Besides the aggression they have to put up with from the outside, the Mohawks
have their own brand of internal problems. In One Nation Under the Gun: Inside
the Mohawk Civil War, Rick Hornung writes about the many conflicts that have
plagued them, both before and after the Oka crisis. His book sheds light on the
difficulties that the Natives faced at the time in trying to present a united front.
Hornung seems to dispute the validity of at least part of Frideres's claim that the
Crisis united the Mohawks, for it certainly highlighted the major differences
within the nation. Hornung claims that the two main factions, the pro-gambling
and anti-gambling groups, have been fighting a fierce war that has done the
Mohawks a great deal of harm. The conflict has cut right through the community
because it is related to central issues like Mohawk identity, sovereignity and self-
government. On August 8, 1989, the Mohawks voted nine to one in favour of
casino gambling, but as the summer of 1990 and subsequent events show, the
vote did not settle the issue within the community conclusively.

In the Oka crisis, the authorities throve on these internal differences and used
them to discourage and discredit the militant Mohawks and their representatives
and ultimately force them "peacefully" out of the Pines. The authorities' strategy
of "divide and rule", the great psychological pressure they subjected the
besieged Natives to, and the inability of the Mohawk community to stick together
from start to finish, lead to what York and Pindera have called the "dnouement"
(final resolution), or what Hornung has described as the "dismal end to the
stand-off": on Wednesday, September 26, Mohawk Warriors, women and
children left the Treatment Centre, ending the 78-day stand-off.

At the height of the Oka crisis, the federal government, through its Department
of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, went back on its initial decision not
to interfere in Quebec's internal affairs: it purchased the disputed land for $5.2
million and drew up plans to turn it over to the Mohawks. Ottawa also
compensated the municipality of Oka financially for loss of income from the
purchased land. In this sense, the government has "attempted", at least in part,
"to address one of the root causes of the Mohawk land dispute."

Despite the relatively peaceful resolution to the crisis and the five years that
have since elapsed, many important issues have still to be addressed, foremost
of all the rights, role and standing of the First Nations in Canada today.
Moreover, a number of questions about the government's tactics during the
stand-off itself still remain unanswered. Canada's credibility as a free and
democratic nation was seriously undermined by the way it treated one of its
founding nations.

Broken Promises and Condemnation

During the crisis, the Canadian authorities confronting the Mohawks broke
promises and clamped down heavily on the press. Frideres notes that "a number
of well-respected international agencies launched their own inquiries into the
Oka affair ... In the autumn of 1990, a lawyer from Amnesty International came
to Quebec to interview Mohawks who said they had been tortured with burning
cigarettes by the Quebec police after they were arrested."

On September 9, 1990 three or perhaps four soldiers attacked one of the

besieged Natives, forty year old Randy "Spudwrench" Horne, and beat him up so
badly that they almost killed him. The Mohawks requested permission to have
him taken to hospital. Despite the promises of Major Alain Tremblay that
Spudwrench would be allowed to rejoin his companions once he recovered, "he
was not permitted to return to the Treatment Centre. On the morning of
September 12, he was arrested by the provincial police on five charges, including
possession of a dangerous weapon and rioting."

Relations between the authorities and the press were particularly bad. On
Thursday August 2, the police seized all footage of the July 11th confrontation
from television stations. Further restrictions on the media, especially those
imposed on journalists encamped with the besieged warriors (who were
prohibited from sending film back to their newsrooms and receiving personal
supplies from their employers), compelled human rights groups in the United
States and Britain to send letters of protest to the Canadian authorities. The
Canadian Association of Journalists later described the military censorship as
"one of the worst attacks ever on the Canadian publics right to know."

Despite the army's restrictions, the news of human rights violations was still
getting out, and this prompted the European Parliament to pass a series of
resolutions condemning Canada and Quebec for violating an agreement signed
on August 12 by the warring parties concerning international observers and
human rights. The vice-president of the Parliament, Wilfried Telkamper, wrote a
letter to Brian Mulroney on September 14 to protest the violations of human
rights. 'The cut-off of the telephone lines is an unjustified attempt to turn away
international attendance and to resolve this conflict without any witnesses,' he
wrote.

In their book York and Pindera write about how the police beat up some of the
Mohawks after they walked out of the Pines, how "three journalists who had
witnessed the walkout were handcuffed and questioned for hours by the police
that same night", and how one of them was kicked and punched. They also
describe how lawyers for the Mohawks were denied the right to assist their
clients during interrogations.

Canadian Responsibilities

Five warm summers, each with its fair share of protests and stand-offs between
the First Nations and the authorities, have passed, and yet the serious issues
that provoked the Oka crisis have not been resolved. "The psychological victory
achieved by the federal government ... has prevented Native people from further
expressing their concern and frustration over land claims." The federal
authorities claim that "Canadians are recognizing that Native people must
assume more responsibilities for their own affairs, setting their own priorities and
determining their own programs." And yet, the hot summer of 1990, wedged
between the long and bitterly cold Canadian winters, gives what Frideres calls
"ample proof" that Canada is "not yet ready to act" in favour of its founding
nations.

(unpublished)

Oka Crisis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Pte. Patrick Cloutier, a 'Van Doo' perimeter sentry, and Mohawk Warrior Brad
"Freddy Krueger" Larocque, a University of Saskatchewan economics student,
face off

The Oka Crisis was a land dispute between the Mohawk nation and the town of
Oka, Quebec which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26,
1990. It resulted in three deaths, and would be the first of a number of well-
publicized violent conflicts between Indigenous people and the Canadian
government in the late 20th century.

Contents

1 Historical background
2 Immediate causes
3 Crisis
4 Resolution
5 Repercussions
6 Legacy
7 Counter-insurgency manual
8 See also
9 References
10 External links

Historical background

The neutrality of this section is disputed.

Please see the discussion on the talk page.

The crisis developed from a dispute between the town of Oka and the Mohawk
community of Kanesatake. The Mohawk nation had been pursuing a land claim
which included a burial ground and a sacred grove of pine trees near
Kanesatake. This brought them into conflict with the town of Oka, which was
developing plans to expand a golf course onto the land.

In 1717, the governor of New France granted the lands encompassing the
cemetery and the pines to a Catholic seminary permission to hold the land in
trust for the Mohawk nation. The Church expanded this agreement to grant
themselves sole ownership of the land, and proceeded to sell off the land and
timber. In 1868, one year after Confederation, the chief of the Oka Mohawk
people, Joseph Onasakenrat, wrote a letter to the Church condemning them for
illegally holding their land and demanding its return. The petition was ignored. In
1869, Onasakenrat returned with a small armed force of Mohawks and gave the
missionaries eight days to return the land. The missionaries called in the police,
who imprisoned the Mohawks. In 1936, the seminary sold the remaining territory
and vacated the area. These sales were also protested vociferously by the
Mohawks, but the protests produced no results.[1]

In 1961, a nine-hole golf course, le Club de golf d'Oka, was built on land, The
Mohawk launched a legal protest against construction. By the time the case was
heard, much of the land had already been cleared and construction had begun
on a parking lot and golf greens adjacent to the Mohawk cemetery.
In 1977, the band filed an official land claim with the federal Office of Native
Claims regarding the land. The claim was accepted for filing, and funds were
provided for additional research of the claim. Nine years later, the claim was
finally rejected for failing to meet key criteria.[2]

Immediate causes

The mayor of Oka, Jean Ouellette, announced in 1989 that the remainder of the
pines would be cleared to expand the members-only golf club's course to
eighteen holes. Sixty luxury condominiums were also planned to be built in a
section of the pines. However, none of these plans were made in consultation
with the Mohawks.

As a protest against a court decision which allowed the golf course construction
to proceed, some members of the Mohawk community erected a barricade
blocking access to the area in question. Mayor Ouellette demanded compliance
with the court order, but the protestors refused. Quebec's Minister for Native
Affairs John Ciaccia wrote a letter of support for the natives, stating that "these
people have seen their lands disappear without having been consulted or
compensated, and that, in my opinion, is unfair and unjust, especially over a golf
course."[citation needed]
Mohawk warrior stands atop an overturned Sret du Qubec car as part of the
barricade

On July 11, the mayor asked the Sret du Qubec (SQ) to intervene, citing
Mohawk criminal activity around the barricade. The Mohawk people, in
accordance with the Constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, asked the women,
the caretakers of the land and "progenitors of the nation", whether or not the
arsenal they had amassed should remain. The women decreed that the weapons
should be used only if the Sret du Qubec opened fire first.

A police SWAT team swiftly attacked the barricade deploying tear gas canisters
and flash bang grenades in an attempt to create confusion in the Mohawk ranks.
It is unclear whether the police or Mohawks opened fire with gunshots first, but
after a fifteen-minute bullet exchange, the police fell back, abandoning six
cruisers and a bulldozer. The police's own tear gas blew back at them. During
the gun battle, 31-year-old Corporal Marcel Lemay of the SQ was shot in the
mouth and died a short while later.
Native Indians from the Seton Lake Indian Band blockade the BC Rail line in
support of Oka, while an RCMP officer looks on.

The situation escalated as the local Mohawks were joined by natives from across
Canada and the United States. The natives refused to dismantle their barricade
and the Sret du Qubec established their own blockades to restrict access to
Oka and Kanesatake. Other Mohawks at Kahnawake, in solidarity with the
Kanesatake Mohawks, blockaded the Mercier Bridge between the Island of
Montreal and the South Shore suburbs at the point where it passed through their
territory. At the peak of the crisis, the Mercier Bridge and Routes 132, 138 and
207 were all blocked. Enormous traffic jams and frayed tempers resulted as the
crisis dragged on. This led a group of Chteauguay residents to start building,
without authorization, an unplanned 4-lane highway around the Kahnawake
reserve. After the crisis, the Quebec government finished the highway, and it is
now part of Autoroute 30.

The Canadian federal government agreed to spend $5.3 million to purchase the
section of the pines where the expansion was to take place, to prevent any
further development. This exchange left the Mohawks outraged as the problems
that led to the situation had not been addressed - ownership of the land had
simply moved from one level of government to another.

Racial hatred occasionally broke through the surface of the crisis as traffic
frustration at the blockades grew into anger. The flames were fanned by radio
host Gilles Proulx who repeatedly reminded his listeners that the Mohawks
"couldn't even speak French" and the federal Member of Parliament for
Chateauguay said that all the natives in Quebec should be shipped off to
Labrador "if they wanted their own country so much".[citation needed]

Mohawk warrior Ronald "Lasagne" Cross confronts 'Van Doo' perimeter sentry
while surrounded by media

When it was apparent that the Sret du Qubec had lost control of the
situation, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were brought in but were
soon overwhelmed by the Mohawks and mobs created by the blocked traffic. Ten
constables were hospitalized and on 14 August Quebec premier Robert Bourassa
requisitioned the assistance of the Canadian Forces in "aid to the civil power" by
invoking the Emergencies Act.

Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was reluctant, but had no choice as it
was Bourassa's right under the Act to employ the military when required to
maintain law and order, the same as Bourassa had done two decades earlier with
Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the October Crisis in 1970. The Chief of the
Defence Staff, General John de Chastelain accordingly placed Quebec-based
troops in support of the provincial authorities. Some 2,500 regular and reserve
troops from the 34th and 35th Canadian Brigade Groups and the 5th Canadian
Mechanized Brigade Group were put on notice and, on the morning of 20 August,
33 troops of the Quebec-based Royal 22e Regiment, the 'Van Doos', led by Major
Alain Tremblay took three barricades and arrived at the final blockade leading to
the disputed area. The Sret du Qubec had established a no man's land of one
and a half kilometres between themselves and the barricade at the Pines, but the
army pushed this to within five metres. Additional troops and mechanized
equipment mobilized at staging areas around Montreal while CF-116 Freedom
Fighter reconnaissance aircraft staged air photo missions over Mohawk territory
to gather intelligence. Despite high tensions between military and native forces,
no shots were exchanged.

Resolution

On August 29, at the Mercier Bridge blockade, the Mohawks negotiated an end
to their protest with Lieutenant Colonel Robin Gagnon, 'Van Doo' commander
responsible for monitoring the blockades along the south shore of the St.
Lawrence River west of Montreal. This resulted in the siege of the Kahnawake
reserve being resolved. The Mohawks at Oka felt betrayed at the loss of their
most effective bargaining chip, for once traffic was flowing again on the Mercier
Bridge, the Quebec government rejected all further negotiations.

On September 25, the final engagement of the crisis took place when a Mohawk
warrior walked around the perimeter with a long stick, setting off the flares the
army had set up to warn them of any escapes from the area. The army turned a
hose on the man, but the hose lacked enough pressure to disperse a crowd. The
Mohawks taunted the soldiers and then started throwing water balloons at them.

By September 26, the Mohawks dismantled their guns and threw them in a fire,
ceremonially burned tobacco and then walked out of the pines and back to the
reservation. Many were detained by the Canadian Forces and arrested by the SQ.

The Oka Crisis lasted seventy-eight days and resulted in the death of SQ
Corporal Marcel Lemay. Two other deaths have also been indirectly attributed to
the crisis: Joe Armstrong, a seventy-one-year-old World War II veteran who had
died of a stress-induced heart attack after a confrontation with a group of non-
native protestors; and an elderly non-native man who died after being exposed
to tear gas on July 11.[citation needed]

The golf-course expansion, which had originally triggered the situation, was
cancelled. The Oka Crisis eventually precipitated the development of Canada's
First Nations Policing Policy.

Repercussions

Mayor of Oka, Jean Ouellette was reelected in a landslide victory in 1991 and
said of the crisis, "If I had to do it all again, I would," citing his responsibilities as
mayor.[citation needed]
A few years after the crisis, the Mohawks of Kahnawake established the
Kahnawake Gaming Commission and started issuing "licences" to gambling
operators who host their Internet gaming websites on their reserve. Both the
Canadian and Quebec governments dispute the legality of this operation, but
have not risked taking further action. The websites hosted by the Kahnawake
Gaming Commission are the only gambling sites that have operated in North
America without legal action being taken against them.

Legacy

Canadian filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has made several documentaries about

the Oka Crisis, including Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) and Rocks
at Whiskey Trench (2000). In 1994, Christine Welsh directed a film, Keepers of
the Fire, which documented the role of Mohawk women during the crisis.
Another documentary by Alex MacLeod, called Acts of Defiance, also came out in
1993. All of these documentaries were produced by Canada's National Film
Board.

Micheal Baxendale and Craig MacLaine have written a book on the crisis, This
Land Is Our Land: The Mohawk Revolt at Oka. Geoffrey York and Loreen
Pindera's People of the Pines: The people and the Legacy of Oka (1991) is
considered the definitive text on the subject. Gerald R. Alfred, a Kahnawake
Mohawk who was part of the band council during the crisis, and who later went
on to become a professor of Political Science, wrote Heeding the Voices of our
Ancestors: Kahnawake Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism
(1995), based on his dissertation.

John Ciaccia, the Minister of Native Affairs for Quebec at the time, wrote a book
about the events that took place before, during and after in his book entitled The
Oka Crisis, A Mirror of the Soul in (2000)

Robin Philpot has also written a book about the way the crisis was used as a
political tool for English Canada, following the failed Meech Lake Accord: Oka:
dernier alibi du Canada anglais (1991)

Canadian punk band Propagandhi recorded a song about the Oka Crisis for their
1998 release Where Quantity Is Job #1. The song was entitled "I Would Very
Much Like to See What Happened in Oka in 1990 Happen Everywhere", and, as
the title would indicate, praised the actions of the Mohawk people.

Montreal Gazette journalist, Albert Nerenberg, switched careers after smuggling

a video camera behind the barricades to make his first documentary, Okanada.

Counter-insurgency manual

A 2005 draft of the Canadian Forces' counter-insurgency manual identified the

Mohawk Warrior Society as an example of a domestic group that could use terror
tactics to further its cause, largely because of its involvement in the Oka Crisis.
Stewart Phillip, Grand Chief of the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs,
denounced the inclusion of the group in the manual as an attack on natives' right
to protest.[1] In response the Minister of National Defence, the Honourable
Gordon O'Connor, announced that the group would not be included as an
example in the final manual.[2]

See also

Timeline of Quebec history

First Nations
Ipperwash Crisis
Caledonia Land Dispute
Seton Portage incident

References

1. ^
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070331.TERROR31/
TPStory/National
2. ^
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070401.wterror
new0401/BNStory/National/home

Gerald R. Alfred (1995). Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors: Kahnawake

Mohawk Politics and the Rise of Native Nationalism. Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-541138-2.
Hornung, Rick (1992). One Nation Under the Gun: Inside the Mohawk Civil
War. Pantheon. ISBN 0-679-41265-4.
o 11 Reviews and news articles of the temporarily banned book
Craig MacLaine, Michael S. Boxendale (1991). This Land Is Our Land: The
Mohawk Revolt at Oka. Optimum Publishing International Inc.. ISBN 0-
88890-229-8.
Alec G. MacLeod (1992). Acts of Defiance. National Film Board of Canada.
IMDb
Alanis Obomsawin (1993). Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. National
Film Board of Canada. IMDb
Alanis Obomsawin (2000). Rocks at Whiskey Trench. National Film Board
of Canada. IMDb
Geoffrey York (1991). People of the pines: The warriors and the legacy of
Oka. Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-96916-8.

External links

The Mohawk Defense of Kanesetake

CBC Digital Archives - The Oka Crisis
Historica - The Oka Crisis
 Official Mohawk Council of Kanesatake web site
First Nations Drum: Oka Crisis Inspired Many Native People
Canada, A People's History: Standoff at Oka

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oka_Crisis"

Categories: Articles lacking sources | All articles lacking sources | NPOV disputes
| All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements
since September 2007 | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007
| History of Quebec | 1990 in Canada | Aboriginal conflicts in Canada | Mohawk
tribe

The Mohawk Defense Of Kanasetake

(aka Oka, Quebec, Canada)
From the Lubicon News Station, Edmonton, Alberta Canada (n.d.)
Appended is an editorial from The Edmonton Journal, 6 May 1991

INTRODUCTION
The period between March 11 and September 26, 1990 was marked by the
confrontation between Mohawk Indians, the Quebec Provincial Police, and the
Canadian Armed Forces near Oka. The first barricades were in place in March,
and the last torn down in September, with considerable cost and damage to both
sides, in what has generally become referred to as a standoff.
The problem started when the courts allowed a controversial and publically
challenged Oka Town Council plan to develop a nine-hole golf course into an
eighteen-hole golf course, insensitively located on one of the last small parcels of
sacred grounds, including Mohawk a meeting place and a centuries old cemetary.
Despite being outnumbered by the massive fire power of thousands of army
troops, the Mohawks emerged triumphant though trodden, and the land was
protected. Even the barbaric aftermath of police brutality and sweeping arrests,
the fundamental story which continues to cause tremors amongst Canada's
military establishment is that a small band of angry natives held off the army.
Gayaneshakgowa And The Wampum Belt Of The Iroquois Confederacy
Another success of the Mohawks was described by Michael Baxendale, author
and journalist, who wrote For a better understanding of the Six Nation Iroquois
Confederacy of which the Mohawk people are a part we have published the
Great Law Of Peace in its entirety, perhaps for the first time in a non-native
publication. (1) The Great Law Of Peace is subtitled The Constitution Of The
Iroquois Confederacy, and is known in Mohawk as Gayaneshakgowa. It includes
several sections primarily regarding the use of Wampum Strings and Belts
(Sections 17, 23, 28, 55, 56, and 91), with Section 60 describing in particular
detail the Wampum Belt Of The Iroquois Confederacy:
A broad belt of wampum of thirty-eight rows, having a white heart in the center,
on either side of which are two white squares all connected with the heart by
white rows of beads shall be the emblem of unity of the Five Nations.
The first of the squares on the left represents the Mohawk Nation and its
territory, the second square on the left and near the heart represents the Oneida
Nation and its territory, and the white heart in the middle represents the
Onondaga Nation and its territory. It also means that the heart of the Five
Nations is single in its loyalty to the Great Peace, and that the Great Peace is
lodged in the heart (meaning with Onondaga League Chiefs) and that the Council
fire is to burn there for the Five Nations. Further it means that the authority is
given to advance the cause of peace whereby hostile nations out of the League
shall cease warfare. The white square to the right of the heart is the Cayuga
Nation and its territory and the fourth and last square represents the Seneca
Nation and its territory.
White here symbolizes that no evil nor jealous thoughts shall creep into the
minds of the chiefs while in the Council under the Great Peace. White, the
emblem of peace, love, charity, and equality surrounds and guards the Five
Nations.
NOTE: The above Wampum Belt was made by Ayonwatha (Hiawatha to the
white man) to commemorate the making of the Great Law. (1)
History shows the Mohawk as an undefeated nation. Although there has never
been colonial recognition of the Great Peace or the Wampum Belt Of The
Iroquois Confederacy, the most recent attempt to invade Iroquois territory
previous to the Oka incidents was by Frontenac in 1697, with the Mohawks
emerging as victors following a successful ambush which freed 280 Mohawk
prisoners.
The costs have always been high for the colonial suppression of the Iroquois,
who killed almost half the population of New France in two months in 1689. A
standoff between the French and the Iroquois occurred over the issue of the
release of Mohawk slaves (serfs), and ended in 1697 with the soldiers fleeing. No
amount of money, religious brainwashing, or torture could defeat the natives.
Costs for the Oka incident are also alarming.
The final analysis of the price of the incidents at Oka were tallied by the various
governmental forces to exceed $200 million, not including the $50,000 per day
still being spent by the Quebec police to patrol around the Kahnawake and
Akwesasne reserves. The $200 million-plus costs are basically sub-divided into
provincial and federal expenses, with over half borne by the Quebec
government. Major expenses were the army and overtime wages for Quebec
police, with about 10% ($20 million) going compensation for residents who lives
were disrupted.
The land in dispute at Oka was worth only a small fraction of the money spent to
squash the revolt of the Mohawk Warriors. It was nearly ten times the amount
budgeted annually by the Canadian government for land claims settlements. As
Terry Kelly wrote in a 1991 editorial in the Edmonton Journal, It is more than
half the $355 million that Prime Minister Mulroney grandly promised recently to
spend over five years to speed up the land claims settlements. Clearly the issues
behind the Oka incidents were deeper than money or property. Power, authority,
and justice were fought for, and the Mohawk victory was and is a victory for all.
REFERENCE:
1.) Maclaine, Craig and Baxendale, Michael, This Land Is Our Land - The Mohawk
Revolt At Oka, Optimum Publishing International Inc., Montreal, Quebec,
Canada, 1990. (photography by Robert Galbraith)

The High Cost of Oka

Editorial from The Edmonton Journal, Monday 6 May 1991
posted by Terri Kelly (terri@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca)
The price-tag for the confrontation last summer at Oka is finally being toted up
and it runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars. It should make apparent, on
financial as well as human grounds, the failure of policies and attitudes towards
natives that are based on neglect and conflict.
Public Security Minister Claude Ryan told the Quebec legislature recently the
standoff at Oka between police and Mohawk Indians cost the province's
taxpayers more than $112 million. Most of this, about $71 million, was in
overtime costs for police who set up round-the-clock surveillance during the 77-
day confrontation. About $20 million more was paid in compensation to nearby
residents whose lives were disrupted.
These costs are separate from the $83 million spent by the Canadian Armed
Forces after Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa requested that the army come in
and deal with the blockade by armed Mohawks. The costs also don't include the
estimated $50,000 a day the Quebec police say it costs to patrol around the
Kahnawake and Akwesasne reserves even now. Far from resolving the crisis, the
police and army action merely created a lasting animosity. The police patrols go
on.
These figures total more than $200 million and are rising. To put the cost of the
crisis in some sort of context, it is about 10 times what the federal government
budgets for land claims settlements each year. It is more than half the $355
million that Prime Minister Mulroney grandly promised recently to spend over five
years to speed up the land claims settlements. It is, needless to say, far more
than the land claimed by the Mohawks (and sought by the town of Oka for a golf
course) is worth on the market.
The daily, demoralizing stupidity of the standoff at Oka was apparent from the
beginning. It represented, for the entire world to see, the failure of political
solutions in Canada. It also cost hundreds of millions of dollars, we now learn,
which puts a sort of price-tag on that failure.

* Origin: Lubicon News Station: Edmonton, Alberta Canada (89:682/432)

Source: www.peacetree.com/akwesasne/wamoac3b.htm