Oka Crisis: Controversial Disputes Between Government And Aboriginal People

The Oka Crisis was one of the most controversial disputes between government and aboriginal people to date. This essay will show how the police handled the situation, how the aboriginal people handled the situation and the impact it made on the world.
The Oka crisis started in 1851 when the people of Kanehsatà:ke sent a letter to protest how they were being treated by the Seminary of St. Sulpice to the highest British civil authority in North America. They wanted the civil authority of an Indian agent to replace the seminary’s religious authority. Their letter was ignored which lead to a tense relationship between the government and the aboriginal people. The seminary had rules and regulations that threatened the livelihood of the people

The Government of Canada creates the reserves of Maniwaki and Doncaster and wanted Algonquin and Mohawk people to move in order to reduce tensions on the territory ran by the Seminary. The British Parliament officially granted title to the land to the Sulpicians a day later. The Algonquin families move to Maniwaki and then The Sulpicians sell off their land plots to white settlers. The Sulpicians change the place name of Kanehsatà:ke to Oka and The Canadian government refuses the Kanien’kehà:ka (Mohawk) position that the original grant was meant to set aside land for them, or to compensate them for the loss of this territory. The Government of Canada acquires land in Gibson, Ontario and forces the Mohawk people of Oka to move. Only a third of the Mohawk people agree to move but after sand avalanches submerge the village of Oka in over a meter of sand, a group of people comprised of Mohawks and Non-Indigenous settlers are forced plant pines on the mountain to stabilize the ground. Somewhere between seventy and eighty thousand pine trees are planted. The Canadian Government installs the Elected Band Council system under the Indian Act but still does not recognize Kanehsatà:ke either

In the end it limits the Mohawk people to roughly 6 kilometers. (They had once occupied 165 kilometers) The municipality of Oka rents out part of the Pines to the Club de Golf Oka. A 9-hole golf course is built in the Pines without Mohawk consent. The Kanehsatà:ke Band filed another official land claim with the federal Office of Native Claims regarding land which includes the Pines (the “Commons”). The claim is accepted for filing, and funds are provided for additional research of the claim. Nine years later, the claim is rejected, on the grounds of failing to meet key legal criteria. The Oka Golf Club (Club de Golf Oka) renews its lease for 35 years. Oka announces its plans to expand the golf club into an 18-hole golf course. The project also includes building a condominium complex. The propose extension is to be built over Kanehsatà:ke’s cemetery and the pines. Grand Chief Clarence Simon demands that the project be stopped. The mayor of Oka puts an end to the moratorium and gives the go-ahead for the golf course expansion. Kanehsatà:ke traditionalists (people of the Longhouse) immediately erect a barricade on the dirt road that leads to the disputed land. April 26th 1990 The Municipality is granted an injunction