Oka Crisis Analysis

As soon as the federal government stepped in and offered to buy the land, this was seen as a dispute all over Canada. It was the main topic on many Montreal radio talk shows. Many of the events were being broadcasted throughout the country on the nightly news. Everyone became aware of the crisis. This seventy-eight day crisis brought native issues up to Canada. It allows the Canadian people to learn about what hardships the indigenous people go through. Many Canadians had sympathy while there were some who others built a negative attitude towards the indigenous. The Oka Crisis led to a document and many different books and films. The most important one was the “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance”. Even people involved in the Oka Crisis went

on to do things and share the story like Gerald R. Alfred, who was a Kahnawake Mohawk apart of the band council that became a professor and wrote a book which focused on all the issues during the Oka Crisis. John Ciaccia whom was the minister of Native Affairs in Quebec also wrote a book about all the events that were related to the Oka Crisis. A well known warrior at the Oka Crisis, Joseph Tehwehron David made an artistic work which was influenced by his experience at Oka. The Oka Crisis even made an influence in the music world when the punk rock band Propagandhi wrote a song about the crisis.

Through out the media the main concept that described the indigenous people during the Oka Crisis was the word violent.

They were portrayed as either already being violent or about to take violent actions. However a lot of the media outlets supported the reasoning behind why the Mohawk people put up barricades, yet still saw them as violent due to their clothing and behaviour. Many articles would post pictures of Mohawk people with guns and their faces painted or had bandannas on so people just assumed they were violent because the pictures did not portray otherwise. Pictures like these took away from what the Mohawk people were actually out there for since they were seen as the bad guys. Also the wrong messages were being broadcasted by the media. The police forces would be negotiating deals with the Mohawk people, however the media would just twist the words and make it seem like they were promising other things. Also the media made it seem like the Mohawk people were wasting their tax money by blocking the bridges and putting a stop to many commutes and having armed forces stationed in Oka to control the situation. When they portrayed this image of the Mohawks the taxpayers suddenly did not approve of what the Mohawk people are doing when they are just simply trying to stand up for their rights and bring awareness to the injustice that is happening to them. Also another way is misinterpretation was the way Mohawks were defined. Some media outlets would just say they were warriors fighting the police and they would categorize them with gangs even though there were many other members of the Mohawks that were there for a peaceful petition which led to them to be labeled as terrorists. “...the Warriors needed to control the media in order to draw sympathy and support for their actions and in the war of words the media was an important propaganda tool.” (pg.253, winegrad) However, “both the natives and the CF learned to appreciate the significance of the media in the

formulation of public opinion and support and tried to use it to their advantages.” (pg.253, winegrad) Not a lot of people now that there was a couple of journalist behind the barricades along with the Mohawk people. You would think that having journalists on the inside would help get the true stories out to the public but it was foreseen that many journalist presented a bias story.

There were many things that were hidden by the media as they want to tell the story that will benefit them. There were was a big media presence trying to get in the Kanesatake but alongside the media presence were many supporters from throughout Canada. The most angered people were in Quebec since the blockade affected them the most, local residents rallied up and started getting violent and throwing rocks at cars which contained mostly of women, young children and elders who tried to leave the reserve. Also, since people could not go support they ended up protesting across the country and had blockades in British Columbia and Ontario. In the end it made more Canadians realize what is going on with the indigenous people and their rights to land. Due to this people stopped respecting Quebec and started perceiving it as a bully instead of the victim. Especially when food and medical supplies were cut off in an attempt to starve them out. Red Cross tried to negotiate a safe path to bring supplies to them and then at one point the police delayed the delivery for 24 hours which violated human rights. (pg.215, fergusen) “...CF continued this practice as a means to expose to the world the slow, relentless genocide…” (pg.255, winegrad) All of this news went worldwide, as far as China, Italy, England and France (pg.256, winegrad) This is when they got the attention of people such as Nelson Mandela, who sent a letter that assured the Mohawks that their struggle was also ours. (pg.257, winegrad)