The documentary chronicling the events of the Oka Crisis of 1990 will be shown in La Ronge Tuesday.
Alanis Obomsawin’s “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance” is a feature documentary released in 1993, illustrating the fight between the Mohawk Nation’s attempt by the community of Oka, Quebec to appropriate reserve land against the Mohawk’s wishes.
Obomsawin says the film became a turning point in history. “Because of the resistance, that the Mohawk did it really became a turning point at a time when Canadian’s finally learned something really horrifying in terms of the land issue with our people. It’s very important for all people to learn that history,” Obomsawin said.
The standoff began on July 11, 1990, lasting 78 days, resulting in one fatality.
The release of the film gradually saw a change in political perspective, which Obomsawin says increased in the last decade. “It certainly has changed, especially in the last ten years and more so in the last five years. I know that Canadians are really interested in justice and want to know what the true story was,” Obomsawin explained.
She says younger people are becoming more engaged in social change after watching the film. The documentary has also been translated into the Mohawk language.
The viewing will take place at the Kikinahk Friendship Centre at 6pm.
This screening, a collaboration between APTN and the National Film Board of Canada, is part of the #Aabiziingwashi (Wide Awake) NFB Indigenous Cinema Tour.
(Photo: a standoff between a Mohawk protester and an Armed Forces personnel. Credit canadianfilmday.ca)