On July 11, 1990, Mohawks
in Kanesatake resisted an assault by heavily armed Quebec provincial
police to remove a blockade that was established to stop the proposed
expansion of the Oka golf course and a condominium project. During a
brief fire-fight, one cop was shot and killed (although to this day it
is unclear who shot him). In nearby Kahnawake, the Mercier Bridge was
seized in solidarity. Thereafter began a 78 day siege involving
thousands of police and some 4,500 soldiers from the Canadian military.
The “Oka Crisis” inspired widespread solidarity actions by Indigenous
peoples across the country, including road and railway blockades,
occupations of government offices, and sabotage of railway bridges and
electrical transmission lines. The Oka Crisis served to re-awaken the
warrior spirit of Indigenous peoples, inspiring acts of resistance and
setting the tone for Indigenous resistance throughout the 1990s, and to
this day.
