Oka Confrontation

Part A

There are four points on the Oka Crisis Timeline which could have been an opportunity for the Oka people or the Mohawks to avoid or resolve confrontations. One would be in 1961 when it was decided that a golf course be built on the land of the Mohawks. If the people of Oka had thought about it and the issues it could cause it would have saved the future from a lot of chaos. Second, in 1990 the confrontation could have been avoided if the Mohawks hadn't set up barricades. Instead they could have tried making their viewpoints known in a more peaceful way. Third, on April 5th when the land was declared illegally occupied the Mohawk people could have accepted it and moved on. Fourth, on July 11 when the SWAT team came in, they could have handled things in a much more peaceful way. People didn't have to die.

Part B

There are a couple ways we can avoid incidents like the Oka Crisis in the future. The first and best way would be to ask people who own land if they can use it, or buy it off them. People need to be notified about this kind of stuff. It is unfair to just take things from people because you have more power than them. The Mohawk people's land claims were never settled, but they still have a sense of possession of it. There is another thing that can be done that I think would really help to avoid incidents like this in the future. It is that the Canadian government should always recognize the rights of the aboriginal people. They occupied Canada first and they are or should be recognized as equal to all of us. There shouldn't violence within our own country because we want to keep our reputation as a peaceful country.