People have been talking a lot about the 1990 "Oka" conflict in relation to #ShutDownCanada. As a historian who teaches a course on the event, it is clear to me that folks don't know how it all "ended," which is worrisome. Essentially, it was just a big, expensive show of force.
At the heart of the conflict was Mohawk control of unceded territory, similar to Wet'suwet'en demands. After 1990, that land was not, and has STILL not, been returned 30 years later.
The core issue, the root of the problem, has not been resolved and land fraud in the community is ONGOING. The Mohawks have lost MORE land since 1990. Mohawk spokesperson @EllenGabriel1 has been very clear about all this, but Canada isn't listening: canadiandimension.com/articles/view/…
So, after '90, the Canadian government said it would "learn" from the conflict, it called a Royal Commission to investigate how to avoid these conflicts (to make it look like it was doing something), and then ignored the commission's recommendations for 20+ years.
Promising to do better and then not delivering is the pattern here, the real lesson of recent Indigenous-settler relations, and that is on Canada and Canadians. It is an unacceptable state of affairs that needs to change. Canadian complacency is a serious issue.
