Oka Crisis Analysis

The Oka Crisis was a violent conflict that occurred between the First Nation Mohawks and the Canadian government during the summer of 1990 in Quebec, Canada. It arose from a proposed expansion of a golf course and new luxury homes by the Oka Golf Club and town municipality. The crisis was sustained for 78 days and astonished the world. It became a major issue and won a great deal of attention on the first Nations’ a serious dilemma, engendered profound and lasting political and social impacts between the Canadian government and the Indigenous peoples. Moreover, the crisis has had a critical impact on the Mohawks' self-awareness. However, lamentably, there is still something that has not been changed from within the government and it should

The Oka Crisis awakened the whole range of Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Mohawks in three reserves (Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanesatake) had a profound impact on them. Oka set the tone for Indigenous resistance throughout the 1990s, and inspired many people and communities to take action. The people who were involved in the crisis, they are still proud of that time. At that time, no one was frightened, not even the children. (Tatum, 2013) The whole community united as one in order to defend their homeland. (Diable, 2013) Since the crisis, the community has become politicized and more concerned with what they must do to preserve their identity and strengthen the

There’s still work to be done. There’s not enough support for the rights of Indigenous peoples on their lands.”(Ahooja, Burrill, & Higgins, 2010) She is a Montreal-based activist, over the past three decades she’s worked on Canadian social justice issues related to poverty reduction, illiteracy, and the rights of First Nations. She emphasized that Canada is one of the three countries that has yet to sign the UN Resolution on Indigenous Peoples. Attempts were made to get Quebec to put pressure on the federal government and to sign a declaration itself – maybe not the one from the UN because it’s only a province – but that did not work either. This means that, at all levels of government, there haven’t been many changes. (Ahooja et al., 2010) Moreover, the UN Resolution is not very constraining. Boucher deemed, “It could probably have an important impact if they followed it to its endpoint; but the governments deny any rights to Indigenous peoples.” In sum, the Canadian government has kept their attitude to the First Nations and cannot avoid falling into the same old trap