July 2015 COCo-Note: Remembering the Oka Crisis

In the spring of 1990, Kanehsatà:ke community members erected a barricade on a secondary dirt road in protest of the proposed expansion of the Oka Golf Club and condominium development onto traditional burial grounds. Tensions escalated to a boiling point on July 11, 1990, the day an early-morning SQ (Sûrêté du Québec) raid degenerated, following a 3-hour negotiation session, into a heated confrontation in which community members were fired on without provocation. Thus began the Kanehsatà:ke Occupation or the “Oka crisis” as it is popularly known, a siege that would last nearly 2 1/2 months and would see the perpetration of multiple human rights violations, all without resolution.

25 years later, what impacts did and does this event bring to the present-day community of Kanehsatà:ke? What has changed? Idle No More and Ellen Gabriel will be hosting a free event around this topic this Saturday, July 11, 2015, including talks from local community leaders and artists, which will be livestreamed as a webinar from the occupation site (HWY 344 West) from 9:30 to 11:30 AM.

COCo representatives and Commun-IT Coordinators Spencer Mann and Parker Mah, in collaboration with QPIRG-Concordia, will be on hand to assist with the technical aspects of the webinar, which will be viewable online during the event and uploaded to COCo’s website post-event.

Don’t miss this important event marking a crucial flashpoint in Quebec history. Click here to participate in the webinar:

http://www.idlenomore.ca/25

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