Oka Crisis Research Paper

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In the summer of 1990 a standoff that would reside for 78 days between the Mohawk and the city of Oka, Québec. This standoff was to settle a land dispute to expand a golf course and develop residence condominiums over disputed land including a Mohawk burial ground. Many factors in both history and during the time of the crisis enflamed this land dispute into a veritable standoff. The controversy behind this dispute is “Who is right?” and …

The Oka Crisis was not a land dispute that arose from no background, but was a land dispute that entailed from long ago. The Oka Crisis was a attempt to end the disagreement. The Mohawk since the 18th century have been urging the government of Canada to recognize their land. In the early 1700’s the governor …show more content…
In the spring of 1989 Jean Ouellette, the mayor of Oka, announced his intentions of expanding the private golf course to eighteen holes and building multiple condominiums on top of the Mohawks’ cemetery. Although there were multiple protests and disagreements from Mohawks as well as concerns from Minister of Native Affairs and Québec Minister of the Environment, the building of the new facilities continued. After 2 centuries of having their land taken away from them, the Mohawk weren’t going to let their pines be stolen and have their cemetery buried under buildings. The protesting began against the further construction of the area in a more aggressive way by the Mohawk. A large barricade was built on the highway to block any construction being started. Just days after the barricade was built, neighbouring Mohawk warriors of other reserves joined the protest. The city of Oka, wanting to build the golf course, asked the Mohawk to remove the roadblocks, but received no response. Jean Ouellette then asked the provincial police named the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) for to butt heads with the Mohawk protesters and their barricades. On July 11, 1990 the SQ entered the the barricaded area and used tear gas

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