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Press Release – KANEHSATA:KÉ LAND DEFENDERS DECRY WORSENING TENSIONS WITH OKA MUNICIPALITY – CALL FOR MEETING WITH THE GOVERNMENT IN THE PRESENCE OF OBSERVERS

-  For the Kanienkéha:ka of  Kanehsata:ké, the latest move by the Oka municipality to seize the Pines, their  cultural site, as well as aggression by the mayor Quevillion, represents the culmination of thirty years of aggression.

KANEHSATA:KÉ, QUÉBEC, 8th of December 2020 – Following a threatening altercation with the Mayor  of Oka, close to the Pines, Kanienkeha:ká Land Defenders denounce continuing aggression by the Oka municipality against their community and express concerns about escalating tensions. They call on the Canadian and Provincial Governments to intervene to stop the pattern of aggression and meet with land defenders in the presence of impartial observers.

“In December 2020, the Oka municipality mounted an unprovoked aggression against the Mohawk People by moving to seize a traditional burial ground on unceded land, the Oka Pines, and making it its own cultural heritage,” Explains Ellen Gabriel, spokesperson of the land defenders. “This move is the latest in a decades-long series of provocations and racist attacks by the municipality.”

“The Mayor of Oka, Mr. Quevillon, has a long history of erratic and aggressive behavior towards Mohawk People,” adds a land defender who wishes to remain anonymous. “There are multiple, documented cases where the Mayor has acted aggressively and openly disrespected our traditions,” she continued. “Whether it is the police or the Mayor, they are always harassing us.”

“We have a legal right as self-determining people to protect our land,” elaborates Mrs. Gabriel. “And yet the Government of Canada does nothing to enforce this right, leaving the racist trolls of Oka Municipality free rein to harass the Kanienkehá:ka unabated. We are worried about potential escalation. This situation is a powder keg of oppression and systemic racism.”

Over the last thirty years, the Oka municipality has seized multiple parcels of unceded land, with the latest example being selling the Golf Course, the subject of the 1990 Siege of Kanehsata:ké, for Real Estate development. The Mohawk are over-policed, systematically disrespected and insulted by the municipality, all of this for asserting their right to existence.

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