THE OKA CRISIS

THE OKA CRISIS

After fighting for years to reclaim their native land, the Mohawks of Kanesatake (Oka) erected a barricade to their land.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
While Quebec was looking into the idea of holding a new referendum on sovereignty, other nations, such as the Canadian First Nations, were attempting to gain their own recognition as an independent people within Canada. While Natives had been making claims for centuries, the ones put forth at Oka took a turn that left its mark on Canadian history.

SUMMARY
When confronted with a plan to expand a golf course on their land, the Mohawks on the Kanesatake reserve decided to erect a barricade to Oka. Indeed, the land which the mayor of Oka and other citizens of the city were eyeing for the new golf course was being claimed as long-held ancestral land by the Mohawks. Three months later, on July 11, 1990, the police intervened and attacked the barricade being guarded by the Natives. Shots were fired and Marcel Lemay, an agent with the Sûreté du Québec (provincial police force), was killed. The conflict took on an entirely new perspective from that moment on. The Mohawk claims were no longer strictly territorial in nature, but rather a demand for recognition of Native independence. The Warriors then joined the Mohawks at the barricades. The government refused to negotiate while the Mohawk barricades were up and sent in the provincial police (Sûreté du Québec) to erect its own barricades on the roads leading to the municipality of Oka and the Kanesatake reserve. As neither group was willing to dismantle their barricades, Robert Bourassa called in the Canadian Armed Forces. Despite the armed presence, negotiations were slow, and it took several weeks before the Mercier Bridge and highways 132, 138 and 207 were able to reopen to regular traffic. Twenty days later, on September 26, 1990, the last barricades were taken down and the Warriors gave up the fight.