Oka Crisis Analysis

Throughout history, the Native people of North America and the Europeans have continually had arguments and disputes over land. To this day there are still issues trying to be resolved. Twenty years ago, the beginning of one of the most violent and intense land disputes in present day Canada occurred. This event is now referred to as the Oka Crisis, named after the town Oka in Quebec. This crisis caused a confrontation involving the Quebec provincial police, the Canadian armed forces and the Mohawk people.1 The stand that the Mohawk people took in the town of Oka became a major revelation for the aboriginal people spreading awareness of aboriginal rights across Canada.

The Mohawk that were protesting to protect their traditional land, were bombarded with thousands of aggressive army members. The peaceful standoff turned violent and bloody when the army made contact with the protesters. Both sides of the standoff would be faced with conflicting loyalties because of their culture and nationalities. The Mohawk would be conflicted between defending historical property or being nationalistic to Canada. In the same view, the army would want to follow orders but could be conflicting between standing up against fellow Canadians. The source shows the tension between the contending groups, but also shows how each party felt about the matter. Their faces show the pain that is felt because of the land claim. When the government made the choice to expand a golf course onto the Oka land, even after Mohawk people formed complaints, they were cutting all ties with the Aboriginal group and creating tension within a

My first memories of life began in Scugog, Ontario, just on the outskirts of Durham Region. As I grew up, I noticed there were some different people that lived around me, but since my innocence was still apart of me then, I disregarded it and thought everyone was as fortunate as I was. One day I became curious enough to ask my mother why there were people who lived differently from us and who they were. My mother did not know much of them, and because of this all I knew was that they were natives of Scugog Island and they assisted in running the Great Blue Heron Casino. I did not learn their history or their culture in any way, and because of this, became ignorant to part of our history as a nation. The history of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island began around 1700 when

Later on in 1854, the Ojibwe also requested that the United States establish reservations and fulfill the needs of the future Ojibwe. The direct result of the requests was the establishment of four reservations in Wisconsin (68). In return for supplying these demands, the United States asked for the North Shore of Lake Superior and the island of La Point (Bell, PowerPoint, 12/20/2014). It wasn 't all bad for the Ojibwe. More often than not, the United States had compensated the Ojibwe with money, weapons, and supplies in place of the land they gave up. Other times, the United States had forced the Indians to listen to their demands through the use of military force (Bell, PowerPoint, 12/10/2015).

The Indian Act was a challenge by the Canadian government to adjust the aboriginals into the Canadian culture including bring in residential schools, separating every First Nations in trying to “improve”, and practice them for standard society (Emberley, 2009). First Nations people were also not allowed to possess any land or offer the land that used to be theirs before the Indian act as this segregation put limits maintaining or even owning anything (Emberley, 2009). This lead to the point on everything being restricted for the First Nations including losing history, practicing

The purpose of this essay is to investigate whether the Oka Crisis has had a positive or negative effect on First Nations affairs in Canada. There are many opinions that could be explored based on research of the crisis. The side that the crisis had a negative effect on Canada could be taken, because the crisis created tension in relations between the government and the Mohawks and caused many physical and emotional

After twenty years of disputing land claims, there are still differing views over whether the relationship between the First Nations and the government improved. Over the past several decades, indigenous people in Canada have mounted hundreds of collective action events such as marches, road blockades, and land occupations. Moreover, the Oka Crisis is a land dispute between the Mohawks and the town of Oka, that began on July eleventh nineteen ninety and it lasted until the end of September of the same year. The seventy eight day standoff between Quebec police and the Mohawks of Kanesatake garnered a tremendous amount of media attention that summer. The dispute began with the idea of installing a golf course and two condominiums on a stretch

Political Scientists, Thomas Flanagan and Roger Townshend explain the key to the big question: “Can a Native State Exist Within a Canadian State?” in the readings: “The Case for Native Sovereignty” and “Native Sovereignty: Does Anyone Really Want an Aboriginal Archipelago?”. The essay will outline and provide evidence to both sides, whether there could or could not exist a Native State in Canada. The document will argue that Natives are not organized enough to form their own government. Throughout the decades, Natives have agonized many savageries at the hands of the European settlers. The essay will take Flanagan’s side with the belief that Natives should not be sovereign, using the textbooks “Principles of Comparative Politics”, and

“Akwesasne: This is Indian Land” is a documentary film created in 1969 and it is about the confrontation between the Mohawk of the St. Regis Reservation and the police. The events take place on Mohawk land near Cornwall, Ontario on a bridge that connects Canada and the United States. There are many differences between the two forms of political power in the movie. One relates to state-centered institutions, which in this case are represented by the police and the political power that is enforced by the indigenous people.

“Most nations consider the notion of land to be an important one. But to Canada 's aboriginal people, it is also a strong cultural symbol. Native identity is drawn from the land: It has been a form of subsistence, and an integral part of creation myths.

Changes were sweeping across the Northwest. Newcomers arrived, mainly Europeans and Canadians looking for more farmland. Unfortunately, the Metis were denied of their land and self-governing rights. They were forced to flee westward and struggled to survive. Continually pressing for title to

by forbidding the sale of any land within the reserve unless it was turned over to the

The Canadian government was being deceitful towards the Mohawk peoples; they ignored their claims to the land and decided to build anyway. This was unjust act was bound to be followed by retaliation. Even after the crisis ended in September of 1990, one of the non-aboriginal locals stoned 75 cars that had aboriginal women, children, and elderly inside. This shows the hatred and disrespect for people who were just defending what was rightfully theirs. Cases like this one help to make Canadian's more aware of the current situation with the First Nations. It shows them how the government is and has been failing to treat the First Nations people fairly when it comes to their rights to the land.

Thomas Flanagan disapproves the idea of Native sovereignty ever coexisting with Canadian sovereignty. Flanagan identifies the flaws in Townshend’s arguments referring to them as a theoretical approach and not a practical approach. It is true that the sharing of jurisdictional power is the essence of the Canadian state but this cannot apply to the Aboriginals of Canada. One reason a third level of government cannot work in Canada is “In the 10 provinces, Canada has over six hundred Indian bands living on more than 2200 reserves, plus hundreds of thousands of Métis and non-status Indians who do not possess reserves,” (Flanagan 44). Flanagan draws the fact that “No one has proposed a workable mechanism by which this far-flung archipelago could

Our nation’s history has been deep rooted in the conflict involving Native Americans, ever since the beginning of America and it is one hard to get rid of even as the days go by. The impact of colonialism can be seen in Native American communities even today, and it can only be understood through a cultural perspective once you experience it. Aaron Huey, who is a photographer, went to Pine Ridge reservation and it led him to document the poverty and issues that the Sioux Indians go through as a result of the United States government’s long term actions and policies against them. One must question all sources regarding these topics because there is a lot of biased and misinformation about Native American struggles, and sometimes schools do not thoroughly teach the truth so students can get an insight. There are also different sociological perspectives in this conflict, along with many differing opinions on how to approach the problem and deal with it. This is where ideas clash because people believe their views are right regarding how to handle it.