Artifact 7: 78-Day Standoff

Citation:“Artifact 7,” HIST 261 Post-Confederation Canadian History, accessed November 23, 2024, https://hist261exhibits.ca/admin/items/show/25

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This article details the 78-day blockade of the Oka Crisis from the start to the end. We see the article start with the fact that the Kanehsatake land had been fought for over 300 years. The Oka Crisis started when the mayor of Oka announced an expansion of the golf course onto the Mohawk territory into a burial ground. The protest started off small in March of 1990 when 300 Mohawk people walked the streets of Oka to fight against the expansion. The chief of Kanehsatake stood in the streets of Oka and said, “I will occupy the land if that’s what it takes” (2020). This was the beginning of the fight of the Oka Crisis in the summer of 1990.  In July 1990 was the start of the 78-day standoff with the Mohawk people. The Oka Crisis started different approaches to making amends with indigenous people across Canada. The Oka crisis still holds impact on the relationship between the Indigenous people and the Canadian government.

Bibliography: 

Pindera, Loreen, and Laurene Jardin. 2020. “78 Days of Unrest and an Unresolved Land Claim Hundreds of Years in the Making.” CBC. July 12, 2020. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/oka-crisis-timeline-summer-1990-1.5631229