During the Oka crisis, there were four different times that I identified that the conflict between the Mohawks and the non-native people of that area could have been resolved peacefully.
In 1977, the Mohawks filed a claim on the land outside of Oka, Quebec. This land was important to them as they believed it was a sacred burial ground for their ancestors. It also held a grove of pine trees that had been planted by their ancestors. However, nine years later, in 1986, their claim was turned down on "technical" grounds. If they had been given the land at that time, the whole thing could have been avoided.
On March 8, 1998, the decision was made to expand the golf course onto the land that the Mohawks believed was rightfully theirs. This decision was made without consulting the Mohawks. If they had been consulted, I think that the people of Oka and the Mohawks could have come to a compromise. This would have settled the whole thing peacefully.
On March 10, 1990, the Mohawks built a barricade on the road leading to the land in question. If the officials had taken the opportunity to talk to the Mohawks at this time, I believe they could have reached a peaceful compromise. The Mohawks would have taken down the barricade and gone home, and the whole conflict would have been avoided.
On July 11, 1990, the Police force was called out. The Mohawks at the barricade and the Police sent to stop them had a conflict that resulted in gunfire and the death of a Corporal. If the officials had just listened to the Mohawks, and had just tried to be peaceful and had not sent guns to the barricade with the police, I think that they would have been able to talk it out peacefully, as long as both sides kept a respect for each other. By doing this peacefully, they could have avoided the loss of the police corporal and the tensions that emerged from this situation. They could have had peace.
Part 2:
The Oka Crisis was a black mark in our history that led to a lot of tension between both the Natives and the non Natives. Although the conflict led to the Natives getting better treatment and more equality, we should have given them that from the very start. I think that in order to avoid similar incidents in the future, we need to try to understand them, and not at the point of a gun. By talking to each other and trying to understand each others points of view, we can learn so much more about each other. This can lead to us helping each other. Tensions between the Natives and non Natives have been around for a long, long, time. By listening to each other and reaching peaceful compromises, we can reach a point where these tensions that have been around for so long can be diminished, if not completely gotten rid of.
We need to remember that we are all people and we all have feelings. These feeling have been deeply ingrained in us since we were little children. If we can understand each others feelings, then both the Natives and the Non Natives can learn more about each other. By learning more about each other, we can come to help each other. We all have different beliefs and different cultures. We must not resort to the imperialism of the past and enforce our beliefs on each other as our ancestors did. People often tend to think that their way is better then anyone elses. What we often fail to realize is that different people like to do things in different ways, and quite often, the way you may think is the best turns out to be the best just for you, while someone elses way of doing things is the best for them. If we can learn to accept that the Natives and the non Natives have different ways of doing things, and that we should support them in doing things the way that they want to, then I believe that we should be able to avoid any further confrontations like the Oka crisis. If we can learn to compromise, we will all be better off.
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