11 - Nation and Society

By: Zach, Mee-So and Mary Anne

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

              The film Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance by Alanis Obomsawin a native documentary filmmaker who also represents the native people. This film was made in Quebec in the year 1993 about an issue regarding the Mohawks in the year 1990 also known as the Oka crisis. The documentary film lasts about two hours and gives us a good point of view of both sides of the situation.

1990: Canadian soldier, Mohawk warrior face off at Oka

              The famous Oka crisis happened when the mayor accepted the idea to expend the golf courses and the residential area destroying a native burial site and pineland, which was in the Mohawks’ possession for generations. The issue was not only about the territorial issue but also the respect towards the native people, as they were not consulted before. The First Nation people decided to create a barricade to prevent the government from entering their sacred land. The Mohawk people were to not start any act of violence unless it is an act of defense. However, after the first gunfire, which nobody knows which camp started, everything went for the worst. The military was stationed at the barricade to prevent anyone from entering the Mohawk reserve isolating them completely. The First Nation people were not the only ones affected by the barricades but the citizens of the Oka community and others were not able to reach their houses and even their work as the Mercier Bridge and three other main roads were blocked completely. This could have been avoided if the government accepted the demands of the First Nation people, which, was to respect their identity. Other nations throughout the country came and supported the Mohawk community; however on August 29 the Mercier Bridge was reopened due to the end of negotiations. After about a month of tension between the Mohawks and the military, the Mohawk warriors came out of their camp after burning all their firearms and got arrested by the SQ.

              The trigger of the problem, which was mostly the expansion of the golf course, was cancelled but the mayor Ouellette was re-elected with the acclamation.

The People of the Kattawapiskak River

              For almost 40 years, a well-known native film director Alanis Obomsawin has created more than 30 documentaries about aboriginals in Canada. She recently filmed a documentary called The People of the Kattawapiskak River released in 2012. It is about 50 minutes long and filmed in the territory of the Cree in Attawapiskat (Kattawapiskak), Northern Ontario. Kattawapiskak, “the parting of the rocks” in Cree, is a village consisting about 1,700 habitants where very few outside the province have known until fall 2011.

              Their Band chief, Theresa Spence, declared a state of emergency and asked the Canadian Red Cross for help to solve their sever housing issue in the subarctic region. They were discovered in the headlines during the Idle No More protests caused by the abuse of the treaty rights by the federal government. Throughout the film, it reveals the housing crisis happening to the Cree community; a lot of the residents live in sheds or in tents without electricity or running water, and some live in overcrowded places with relatives (20 people in one home) while living in cold and arctic temperatures (-40 degrees Celsius).

              Also, Obomsawin goes through their history and she gives us the point of view of the Cree people and residents outside of the reserve (both supportive and negative). The aboriginals from the reserve do their best to keep their people, especially the youth, to keep living on despite the bad housing conditions. They look forward to the next generation of Cree becoming strong and great individuals. They want to keep their language, culture, and spirituality alive for the years to come.

Le Peuple Invisible

              Le Peuple Invisible by Richard Desjardin and Robert Monderie is a very powerful documentary film that explains the struggle the Algonquin’s have been face with through the past five centuries over their territory and rights. Le Peuple Invisible begins with Richard Desjardin giving his point of view on the struggle that the Algonquin’s have had with the governments since the 15th century. Since the exploration of Canada the Algonquin’s have had their land taken away by the “White People” being forced to move on and find a new home, until all their land was taken and they were forced to live in reserves with horrible living conditions. After their land was taken the government forced the Algonquin children to go to residential school and learn French by force where they were abused sexually and physically. The Canadian government has been taking the land from the Algonquin’s for centuries by creating treaties that offered the Algonquin’s very minimal compensation such as 4 dollars per year. Today the living conditions in the Algonquin reserves are horrible where they are confined to such a little area with insufficient resources such as food for such a large population. The homes they are forced to live in are inhabitable and do not satisfy basic human needs such as running water or heat. The Algonquin’s are unable to construct new homes due to the poor economy in the reserves and no primary source of income. Le Peuple Invisible truly shows how the government has destroyed the Algonquin’s way of life, which has lead to a loss of traditions, and a great number of suicides majority of which are children. 

              In Le Peuple Invisible the main discussion of the documentary is how the government for many years has been taking land away from the First Nations without respecting their rights. This documentary can relate to some of the recent documentary that we have watched in class such as Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance by Alanis Obomsawin. Which explains the Oka Crisis that occur in Montreal in 1990, when the government wanted to destroy a sacred Native burial ground and pines in order to make room for the expansion of the golf course without caring for the Native rights. The People of the Kattawapiskak River by Alanis Obomsawin is another documentary, which is related to our film. It explains the struggle of the people of the First Nations being place into reserves by the government without being given proper living conditions. The First Nations were forced to live in reserves where the homes have no running water not heating and majority of the natives are forced to give up their children because of the extreme cold. These two documentary films are related to Le Peuple Invisible because in each film the government has ignored all of the rights of the First Nation people as well as taken away majority of their land without offering substantial compensation. These 3 films both discuss the matter of the First Nation people not being given their rights and being treated as if they were invisible which is linked to the title of the documentary Le Peuple Invisible.

Reflection 

              In these documentary films we learn a lot about the ideologies of the first Europeans that were passed down to today's generations allowing us to see how not only were we greedy then but also still are today. In Le Peuple Invisible, the filmmaker shows the land that the “White People” took from the Algonquin’s as well as, in 1990 when the Mayor of Oka tried to take the land away from the Mohawks. Not only the government approves of this but also the good part of the population. We also see the disrespect towards the natives even though today we live in a multicultural community. In the Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, we see a police man ignoring an English speaking native saying: “I do not understand native and I do speak English.” How can a policeman whose job is to maintain peace and should be neutral and respectful to every residence of its land discriminate? 

              These films aren’t only about the native people’s rights but also about everyone else that is not treated with respect, allowing us to learn about the historical facts and the injustice towards the First Nations. This means, the broken promises, abuse of the treaties and the use of their lack of knowledge about the European laws before they were able to get educated. The goals of these films are to show us the truth and the point of views of the native people. The expression “Canada is a free country” doesn’t seems to apply to the native people. Throughout the film, we feel as if we have to do something, instead of just ignoring the fact that people are not receiving the rights and freedom that they deserved in a country where it is supposed to be a free and pacifist country. We can see how immigrants are aloud to keep their culture when coming here, yet oddly enough the First Nation people are forced to forget their culture. 

              While watching, we can feel some sort of nostalgia. In the past, the natives were really connected to nature and depend a lot on spirituality. Until, the Europeans came and stripped them from their culture and their religion like we’ve mention earlier. Some still hold on to the old ways, but they’re not as engage in their culture as they were before the government took their rights. These documentaries are the voice of the First Nations and the little light to protect their culture.

              What we realized is that the situation not only applies to the natives, in fact to all of us here. As said earlier, we live in a multicultural country and in an era of multiculturalism. With so many cultures mixed in together, we have created a new kind of culture and raised our children differently from our original countries. However, these mixes of cultures somehow discriminate and forget the aboriginal ones. To create the real country of freedom, we must support every one and every group but we mustn’t forget our original roots and have the duty just like the aboriginal people to protect it by not suppressing others.