The
period between March 11 and September 26, 1990 was marked by the confrontation
between Mohawk Indians, the Quebec Provincial Police, and the Canadian Armed
Forces near Oka. The first barricades were in place in March, and the last torn
down in September, with considerable cost and damage to both sides, in what
has generally become referred to as a standoff.
The
problem started when the courts allowed a controversial and publicly challenged
Oka Town Council plan to develop a nine-hole golf course into an eighteen-hole
golf course, insensitively located on one of the last small parcels of sacred
grounds, including Mohawk a meeting place and a centuries old cemetery.
Despite
being outnumbered by the massive fire power of thousands of army troops, the
Mohawks emerged triumphant though trodden, and the land was protected. Even
the barbaric aftermath of police brutality and sweeping arrests, the fundamental
story which continues to cause tremors amongst Canada's military establishment
is that a small band of angry natives held off the army.
Another
success of the Mohawks was described by Michael Baxendale, author and journalist,
who wrote For a better understanding of the Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy
of which the Mohawk people are a part we have published the Great Law Of Peace
in its entirety, perhaps for the first time in a non-native publication. (1)
The Great Law Of Peace is subtitled The Constitution Of The Iroquois Confederacy,
and is known in Mohawk as Gayaneshakgowa. It includes several sections primarily
regarding the use of Wampum Strings and Belts (Sections 17, 23, 28, 55, 56,
and 91), with Section 60 describing in particular detail the Wampum Belt Of
The Iroquois Confederacy:
A
broad belt of wampum of thirty-eight rows, having a white heart in the center,
on either side of which are two white squares all connected with the heart by
white rows of beads shall be the emblem of unity of the Five Nations.
The
first of the squares on the left represents the Mohawk Nation and its territory,
the second square on the left and near the heart represents the Oneida Nation
and its territory, and the white heart in the middle represents the Onondaga
Nation and its territory. It also means that the heart of the Five Nations is
single in its loyalty to the Great Peace, and that the Great Peace is lodged
in the heart (meaning with Onondaga League Chiefs) and that the Council fire
is to burn there for the Five Nations. Further it means that the authority is
given to advance the cause of peace whereby hostile nations out of the League
shall cease warfare. The white square to the right of the heart is the Cayuga
Nation and its territory and the fourth and last square represents the Seneca
Nation and its territory.
White
here symbolizes that no evil nor jealous thoughts shall creep into the minds
of the chiefs while in the Council under the Great Peace. White, the emblem
of peace, love, charity, and equality surrounds and guards the Five Nations.
NOTE: The above Wampum Belt was made by Ayonwatha (Hiawatha to the white man) to commemorate the making of the Great Law. (1)
History
shows the Mohawk as an undefeated nation. Although there has never been colonial
recognition of the Great Peace or the Wampum Belt Of The Iroquois Confederacy,
the most recent attempt to invade Iroquois territory previous to the Oka incidents
was by Frontenac in 1697, with the Mohawks emerging as victors following a successful
ambush which freed 280 Mohawk prisoners.
The
costs have always been high for the colonial suppression of the Iroquois, who
killed almost half the population of New France in two months in 1689. A standoff
between the French and the Iroquois occurred over the issue of the release of
Mohawk slaves (serfs), and ended in 1697 with the soldiers fleeing. No amount
of money, religious brainwashing, or torture could defeat the natives. Costs
for the Oka incident are also alarming.
The
final analysis of the price of the incidents at Oka were tallied by the various
governmental forces to exceed $200 million, not including the $50,000 per day
still being spent by the Quebec police to patrol around the Kahnawake and Akwesasne
reserves. The $200 million-plus costs are basically sub-divided into provincial
and federal expenses, with over half borne by the Quebec government. Major expenses
were the army and overtime wages for Quebec police, with about 10% ($20 million)
going compensation for residents who lives were disrupted.
The
land in dispute at Oka was worth only a small fraction of the money spent to
squash the revolt of the Mohawk Warriors. It was nearly ten times the amount
budgeted annually by the Canadian government for land claims settlements. As
Terry Kelly wrote in a 1991 editorial in the Edmonton Journal, It is more than
half the $355 million that Prime Minister Mulroney grandly promised recently
to spend over five years to speed up the land claims settlements. Clearly the
issues behind the Oka incidents were deeper than money or property. Power, authority,
and justice were fought for, and the Mohawk victory was and is a victory for
all.
REFERENCE:
1.)
Maclaine, Craig and Baxendale, Michael, This Land Is Our Land - The Mohawk Revolt
At Oka, Optimum Publishing International Inc., Montreal, Quebec, Canada, 1990.
(photography by Robert Galbraith)
posted by Terri Kelly (terri@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca)
The
price-tag for the confrontation last summer at Oka is finally being toted up
and it runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars. It should make apparent,
on financial as well as human grounds, the failure of policies and attitudes
towards natives that are based on neglect and conflict.
Public
Security Minister Claude Ryan told the Quebec legislature recently the standoff
at Oka between police and Mohawk Indians cost the province's taxpayers more
than $112 million. Most of this, about $71 million, was in overtime costs for
police who set up round-the-clock surveillance during the 77-day confrontation.
About $20 million more was paid in compensation to nearby residents whose lives
were disrupted.
These
costs are separate from the $83 million spent by the Canadian Armed Forces after
Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa requested that the army come in and deal with
the blockade by armed Mohawks. The costs also don't include the estimated $50,000
a day the Quebec police say it costs to patrol around the Kahnawake and Akwesasne
reserves even now. Far from resolving the crisis, the police and army action
merely created a lasting animosity. The police patrols go on.
These
figures total more than $200 million and are rising. To put the cost of the
crisis in some sort of context, it is about 10 times what the federal government
budgets for land claims settlements each year. It is more than half the $355
million that Prime Minister Mulroney grandly promised recently to spend over
five years to speed up the land claims settlements. It is, needless to say,
far more than the land claimed by the Mohawks (and sought by the town of Oka
for a golf course) is worth on the market.
The
daily, demoralizing stupidity of the standoff at Oka was apparent from the beginning.
It represented, for all the world to see, the failure of political solutions
in Canada. It also cost hundreds of millions of dollars, we now learn, which
puts a sort of price-tag on that failure.
*
Origin: Lubicon News Station: Edmonton, Alberta Canada (89:682/432)
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