Retyped for your continued information regarding the explosive situation in Oka, Quebec, is an article by historian Dr. Tony Hall, as well as some media coverage. * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Aboriginal Rights Support Group, of the Committee Against Racism, is holding a RALLY IN THE SUPPORT OF THE MOHAWKS on Monday, July 23, 5 PM, in front of the Federal Building in downtown Calgary. We urge others, concerned about the lack of federal government involvement and its abrogation of constitutional responsibilities towards native peoples, to stage similar events to express their sympathy and support for native self-determination. ************************************************************************ THE TRAGIC ASSAULT ON THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF NATIVE PEOPLE IN QUEBEC By Prof. Tony Hall Department of Native American Studies University of Lethbridge The images are even more shocking to Canadian sensibilities than those which accompanied the October Crisis - or they should be. Twenty years ago the War Measures Act was invoked by Pierre Trudeau as the Canadian army moved through the streets of Montreal to guard against armed insurrection by the FLQ. In the summer of 1990 the Quebec provincial police have come together to form a virtual army of occupation in the small community of Oka. The target of their mobilization is the Mohawk Warriors Society and, behind them, the Indian community of Kanesatake. At immediate issue is the destiny of a small tree lot, for the native people a place of special spiritual significance and for the Oka town council the future site of an expanded golf course. Behind this clash of visions lies a vast realm of legal uncertainty, a dangerous battle zone of power politics. The stakes include the future control of hydroelectric installations, mines, forest industries and fisheries. The stakes include profound issues of land title, jurisdiction and sovereignty. The stakes involve questions that cut to the very root of peoplehood and identity - Aboriginal identity, Quebecois identity and Canadian identity. These hidden realities constitute the essential background to understand the extreme overzealousness of the original military manoeuvre to take out the Indians' protective blockade. Tragically, a young police officer fell in the exchange of gun fire. The stakes in the confrontation were raised yet another notch. Unlike in 1970, the War Measures Act was not invoked. But the Quebec police began acting as if it had been. Their tactic was to prevent food, water and medical supplies from reaching the Indians of Kanesatake. Reporters had their camera equipment confiscated and their exposed film destroyed. Meanwhile, the spectacle took on added force as the Mohawks of Kahnewake supported their menaced countrymen by blocking the Mercier Bridge across the St. Lawrence River between Chateauguay and Montreal. The reaction of many of the inconvenienced Chateauguay folk was intense. They hung up dolls modelled after Mohawk warriors and burned them in effigy. They beat drums and danced in grotesque mockery of the Indians. They pleaded for the intervention of the army. Businesses in Chateauguay were closed to native people. Those who defended Indian actions faced reprisals from townsfolk. On the fringes of the protest moved "militant sovereigntists." With Quebec flags waving they celebrated the public mobilization against the Mohawks whose second language, after their indigenous tongue, is most often English. In this atmosphere Indian jewelry or the Canadian flag became a certain target of desecration. By and large, then, the massive display of Quebec police power against Indian resistance has met with surprisingly weak opposition. Indeed, the weight of opinion seems to be moving to the side of yet more drastic police intervention. Hence, the growing nationalist forces in post-Meech Lake Quebec essentially back a government exercising coercive force against aboriginal people not unlike the repression the Quebecois faced when federalist Pierre Trudeau transgressed their civil liberties in 1970. Similarly, the Mohawk Warriors' militant defiance, although relatively foreign to most native people in Quebec and throughout the rest of Canada, nevertheless is finding deep resonance throughout much of Indian country. Although the Warriors' defensive strategy bears little resemblance to the aggressive offensiveness of the FLQ, the actions of both groups forced on their respective peoples a fuller appreciation of official preparedness to turn extensive arsenals of repression against them. The politician who clearly must take primary responsibility for the excesses of the Quebec police force is Premier Robert Bourassa. His decision to amass such extraordinary police power in Oka is entirely consistent with his vision of the province. Bourassa is the primary architect of the James Bay Hydroelectric project. While the town fathers of Oka want to extend their golf course, Bourassa wants to extend his massive waterworks into the hunting territory of Cree and Algonquin Indians in Quebec. Both groups adamantly oppose the premier's plans for exploitation of their lands. Their struggle with the province over land title and jurisdiction promises to become more bitter yet. Bourassa understands well that aboriginal people throughout the length and breadth of the province have excellent claims to natural resources. He understands that the land situation in his province is most akin to the tense reality in British Columbia, where many native groups have never ceded aboriginal title to their ancestral territories. The Quebec government's insecurity over the issue of aboriginal rights was starkly demonstrated in 1981, when the ruling Parti Quebecois unleashed heavily armed riot squads to enforce provincial fishing regulations on the Micmacs of Restigouche. The failure of the authors of the Meech Lake accord to acknowledge the existence of aboriginal people as part of Quebec's distinct society is yet another reflection of official hostility to native claims. Now Meech Lake is dead, killed largely by the tactics of Ojibway Cree MLA Elijah Harper on the floor of the Manitoba legislature. It would be naive not to see a connection between the effectiveness of aboriginal mobilization against the accord and the scope of police mobilization against the Mohawks at Oka and Kahnewake. Clearly, a signal is being sent to native people throughout the province that their claims to land and self-determination will not be allowed to stand in the way of the Quebecois assertion of sovereignty. The darker side of the distinct society has been exposed for all who care to see. A contempt for human dignity and for basic civil liberties is being displayed on a scale which far exceeds anything practised against the English-speaking shop keepers of Montreal. This failure of restraint constitutes a major strategic error on the part of nationalistic forces in Quebec. Rather than lining up as natural allies of aboriginal self-determination, the proponents of increased self- determination for the Quebecois have allowed one of the most retrogressive forces in their movement to prevail. The repercussions will be far-reaching; the mistake will be a hard one from which to recover. The major responsibility for the unleashed viciousness of this fast- expanding tragedy, however, lies squarely with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. What stronger images could be presented of the betrayal hidden behind his promise of "national reconciliation?" After splitting the country along linguistic lines, Mulroney's approach to this crisis now jeopardizes Canada with further divisiveness along the racial divide between native and non-native. All across the country aboriginal groups are setting up blockades to show their solidarity with the people of Kanesatake. And Parliament Hill is once again being added to the list of flash points in the expanding wave of aboriginal activism. The federal government's remarkable reluctance to take action in the face of such startling developments must be seen in the light of a constitutional setup that almost automatically places provincial governments in league with the foes of aboriginal jurisdiction in land. Whether developers are trying to build golf courses, power dams, uranium mines or pulp mill paper plants - whether these developers are at work in Quebec, Alberta or British Columbia - the structure of Canada's laws places their activities under the auspices of provincial governments. These governments hold jealously to their claims of ownership and control of natural resources. The federal government was charged in 1867 with protecting the aboriginal interest in land from the hostile encroachment of provincial interests. Recent Supreme Court judgements have affirmed the federal responsibility to protect aboriginal rights. But while virtually all federal governments have failed markedly to uphold this difficult constitutional duty, Brian Mulroney's disregard for aboriginal people stands out. Having witnessed again and again the willingness of Mulroney to trade away aboriginal interests to secure provincial favour, native people have been forced to draw their own conclusions about a leader who is on the record as saying the country's constitution "isn't worth the paper it's written on." Aboriginal and treaty rights are held in contempt. Native people have, therefore, been forced to try new tactics in the collective, life-or-death struggle to defend their lands. The present breakdown of peace, order and good government is the result. The tragic consequences which are flowing from the profound failures at the highest political level are yet further evidence of why Brian Mulroney must step aside to make room for a prime minister loyal to our constitution. ************************************************************************ CONFUSION KEEPS OKA SITUATION BOILING Don McGillivray, Calgary Herald, July 21, 1990 OTTAWA - The Mulroney government continues to be hopelessly weak and confused in the Oka standoff. The government has the key to the situation in its hands. It claims to be willing to buy the disputed Mohawk land on which the village of Oka wanted a golf course extension. The federal government would then declare the land to be a Mohawk reserve. If this were done, the armed Mohawks would no longer need to defend the land. But the government won't move until the barricades come down and the Mohawks abandon arms. It's a classic Catch 22 situation. The federal government won't negotiate until the Mohawks abandon armed resistance. And the Mohawks seem unlikely to surrender their position on the mere promise of negotiations. In such a situation, the responsibility for making the first move lies with the people holding the strongest hand. In the Oka situation, this is obviously the federal government. The government may be afraid of setting precedents and inviting violent actions in other aboriginal disputes. It may also be in a vengeful mood after the defeat at the hands of Manitoba Indians of its cherished Meech Lake accord. But neither the weak-kneed fear of precedents nor any secret desire to teach the aboriginal people a lesson should stand in the way of the government doing its duty to resolve the armed standoff. Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon kept journalists cooling their heels for two hours Thursday after the time he himself set for a news conference. When he eventually emerged from a week of hiding, he hadn't much of value to say. He and Solicitor General Pierre Cadieux sounded like ministers in some South African government of the past. Remember how the South African government refused to release Nelson Mandela until he announced that he would no longer pursue the armed struggle against apartheid? Mandela wouldn't make the promise. So negotiations were impossible. How was this logjam broken? First, by the release of Mandela without the renunciation of the armed struggle previously demanded by the white government. And second, by the willingness of the de Klerk government to talks without preconditions. As Siddon and Cadieux erected a similar logjam, they sounded as though they had been given a message to deliver, perhaps by Prime MInister Brian Mulroney, and dare not change its terms. They kept saying over and over that the federal government won't negotiate in a situation of "armed conflict." This is not an accurate description of the state of affairs at Oka. What is needed now, more than anything else, is somebody in the federal government who will take a risk for peace and a reasonable settlement of the Oka dispute. One ray of hope is that all concerned see the Oka land claim as unique. Its settlement need create no precedent for other disputes. But the federal government will have to send somebody who has the authority to negotiate and the creative intelligence to work out a solution. that's what Canadians, aboriginal and otherwise, want from their federal government now, not a list of reasons that negotiations are impossible. ************************************************************************ CANADA WILL PAY FOR COWARDLY TORY PERFORMANCE Don Braid, Calgary Herald, July 21, 1990 Federal authority in Quebec is very selective these days. When there's money to give away - for a comedy centre or a hot-air balloon show - Ottawa is right there with its cheque book. But when a tough responsibility must be exercised, the feds head for the bushes and leave the field to the Quebec government. The most stunning display of this servile new federal status is Ottawa's jellyfish performance in the native standoffs at Oka and the Mercier bridge on Montreal's South Shore. Tom Siddon, the federal minister, says any action to end the blockades is Quebec's responsibility. The minister tells us he did not speak up for several days, even to say this much, because he was advised not to by John Caccia, the Quebec minister. Siddon won't negotiate with the natives, though, because Ottawa cannot allow itself to be "held hostage" by people with guns.(Caccia also advised him to take this position.) The only hostage here is the federal government, and it is being held not by natives, but by the province of Quebec. In one of the clearest areas of federal jurisdiction and paramountcy - Native affairs - Ottawa is taking orders from a minor Quebec minister. The cause isn't hard to find. In the post-Meech age, the Mulroney government is cowed and terrified, utterly paralysed by the fear that it might lose favor in Quebec. The easiest way to lose this favor, without question, is to seem to intervene on behalf of natives, the very people who killed the Meech Lake accord and added to Quebec's so-called "humiliation." The incredible scenes on the Mercier bridge, with Quebecers hurling insults and burning natives in effigy, are ample proof of the dangerous mood in Quebec. We should also consider the dark possibility that Ottawa, in a vengeful mood, is ready to teach the natives a lesson. Federal inaction tells the natives: "If you thought we were bad, just try living in the new Quebec." And Quebec gets the message that it can do what it pleases to end the impasse, even if it chooses to send in the SWAT teams and kill some Indians. Luckily, Quebec is acting with some moderation - so far. Among other things, the province wants Ottawa to turn over land to the Mohawks. But don't count on official patience lasting for long - or on Premier Robert Bourassa doing any favors for the natives. (This is the same man who said in 1970, at the beginning of the James Bay Hydro project, that six thousand Cree Indians wouldn't be allowed to hold up the progress of six million Quebecers.) By abrogating its authority in Quebec, Ottawa is sowing crisis in the rest of Canada too. Natives everywhere are in a militant mood for very good reasons. The victory over the Meech accord gave them a sense of solidarity and pride that hasn't been seen for generations. If Ottawa now throws them on the mercy of the provinces, they will truly have nothing more to lose and the darkest consequences are possible. But this government cares only for the public mood in Quebec. Ultimately, all Canada will pay for its cowardly performance. ************************************************************************ For more information contact web:car by e-mail or in writing Aboriginal Rights Support Group Committee Against Racism P.O. Box 3085, Station B Calgary, Alberta T2M 4L6