Summary
Drawing on historical and primary sources, including interviews and government documents secured through the Access to Information Act, this book dispels the myth and disinformation surrounding the causes and events of the Oka Crisis. The author highlights the relevance of Oka, as an integral part of Canadian history, towards the formation of government policy and the active participation of indigenous Canadians in their ongoing effort to shape and alter their social and political realities within Canada and their resistance to cultural assimilation. This study also explores one of the most controversial and volatile Canadian Forces internal security operation of the twentieth century.
Contents
Part I. Converging Cultures -- 1. The Iroquois confederacy and the great law of peace -- 2. The effects of colonialism on the shaping of North America -- 3. Deepening divisions: Mohawk communities in New France -- 4. Mohawk settlement at the Lake of Two Mountains/Oka -- 5. The Oka land claim post-confederation – 6. The rebirth of the Warrior Society
Part III. The Clash of Cultures -- 15. Operation salon -- 16. The Oka crisis: native nationalism, internationalism and the media war -- 17. The Canadian Forces: operations in Kanesatake and Kahnawake -- 18. The treatment centre at Kanesatake -- 19. Raids, retaliation and relationships -- 20. Exodus from the Treatment Centre.
Part II. From Convergence to Confrontation -- 7. Kanesatake and the modern land claims process -- 8. Akwesasne: gambling and civil war -- 9. The history and framework of aid to the civil power and domestic operation legislations -- 10. Operation FEATHER/Operation AKWESASNE -- 11. Protest in the pines at Kanestake -- 12. The Sûreté du Québec raid at Kanesatake -- 13. The Meech Lake Accord and Elijah Harper -- 14. The cordoning of Kanesatake and Kahnawake