Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, by Alanis Obomsawin (1993)
I finished Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance by Alanis Obomawin this week. The film chronicles the historic Oka Crisis of 1990 where community members protested against a housing and golf-course expansion project that would encroach on a pine forest and burial ground on Mohawk territory.
I knew vaguely about the protests, but not the reason why it happened or the details of injustices. After seeing this film, I am really upset that it wasn’t shown in my high school history class. This is Canadian history. Those ignorant of this history need to understand and grapple with it now.
This is the Canada that is seen as kind and open. These racist and horrible acts happened less than 30 years ago. Canadians hung Mohawk replicas and screamed “savage!” Canadians placed barbed wire around protestors, surrounded them with tanks and soldiers. Canadians withheld food supplies to isolated protestors. Canadians threw large rocks at fleeing elders, women and children. Canadians truly believed they were the civilized ones.
Obomsawin cut through the lies that the armed Mohawks were criminals, and revealed the constant injustices these protestors faced. I’ve seen a few of her films before, and I am not surprised that this film struck me just as sharply.
