Oka Crisis

  • Oka Crisis
  • Kanesatake Resistance
DateJuly 11 – September 26, 1990
(2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day)
Location
Oka, Kanesatake and Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada
45°27′54″N 74°06′11″W / 45.46512°N 74.10317°W / 45.46512; -74.10317
Result

See aftermath

  • End of Mohawk blockade
  • Federal government purchased the Pines from Municipality of Oka to prevent further development.
Belligerents

 Canada

Mohawk
Commanders and leaders
John de Chastelain Ellen Gabriel
Units involved

Canadian Armed Forces

Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Sûreté du Québec

Warrior Society

  • Local and non-local sympathizers
Strength

Force Mobile Command:

  • 4,500 soldiers
  • more than 1,000 vehicles

RCMP:

  • Small number positioned at various barricades and patrols

Sûreté du Québec:

Non-local activists:

  • more than 2,500 activists/warriors

Local activists:

  • 75–600 armed warriors (at various times; including non-locals)
  • Dozens of unarmed local activists
Casualties and losses
  • 1 killed
  • 30 wounded
  • 1 killed
  • 75 wounded

The Oka Crisis (French: Crise d'Oka), also known as the Mohawk Crisis or Kanehsatà:ke Resistance (French: Résistance de Kanehsatà:ke), was a land dispute between a group of Mohawk people and the town of Oka, Quebec, Canada, over plans to build a golf course on land known as "The Pines" which included an indigenous burial ground. The crisis began on July 11, 1990, and lasted 78 days until September 26, with two fatalities. The dispute was the first well-publicized violent conflict between First Nations and provincial governments in the late 20th century.