The Oka Crisis and RCAP

• The extent of the conflict between the First Nations and the Canadian government became more urgent following the events at Oka, Quebec in 1990.
• On July 11th, the Quebec Provincial Police tried to dismantle a roadblock that had been set up outside Montreal in mid-March by a group of Mohawks from Kanesatake.
• This First Nation community had erected the roadblock to prevent the nearby town of Oka from expanding a golf course onto sacred Mohawk lands.
• For 78 days, armed Mohawk warriors faced off against the Quebec Provincial Police, and later the Canadian Armed Forces, before withdrawing from their barricade after an agreement was reached between all parties. However, one police officer was killed during the raid.
• Supporters of the Mohawk Warriors Society argued that the Oka Crisis raised the awareness of Indigenous issues in a way that Indigenous leaders had been unable to do previously.
• However, others argued that any gains made were offset by increased racism toward Indigenous peoples as well as a loss of credibility for the Indigenous rights movement and rising militancy among discontented Indigenous youth.
• A few months later, in 1991, the government established the Royal Commission on Indigenous Peoples (RCAP).
• The RCAP report is a significant body of work that has been widely used to inform public debate and policy making.
• The Commission's goal was to propose specific solutions to issues that had long affected the relationship between Indigenous peoples, the government and Canadian society as a whole.
• The Commission published its final report in 1996, which included 440 recommendations covering a wide range of Indigenous issues.