To mark the 25 year anniversary of the 1990 “Oka Crisis” Warrior Publications has released this 11X17 inch colour poster by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Gord Hill. You can download this PDF and print it out on a colour laser printer. Help keep the history of Indigenous resistance alive! To download click Oka 1990 Anniversary Poster 1.
The poster includes the following text:
“On July 11, 1990, Mohawks in Kanesatake resisted an assault by heavily armed Quebec provincial police to remove a blockade that was established to stop the proposed expansion of the Oka golf course and a condominium project. During a brief fire-fight, one cop was shot and killed (although to this day it is unclear who shot him). In nearby Kahnawake, the Mercier Bridge was seized in solidarity. Thereafter began a 78 day siege involving thousands of police and some 4,500 soldiers from the Canadian military. The “Oka Crisis” inspired widespread solidarity actions by Indigenous peoples across the country, including road and railway blockades, occupations of government offices, and sabotage of railway bridges and electrical transmission lines. The Oka Crisis served to re-awaken the warrior spirit of Indigenous peoples, inspiring acts of resistance and setting the tone for Indigenous resistance throughout the 1990s, and to this day.”
The artwork is based on one of the iconic photographs that emerged from the standoff depicting an armed warrior facing off against a Canadian soldier. From the original photo caption: “Canadian soldier Patrick Cloutier and Saskatchewan Native Brad Laroque alias “Freddy Kruger” come face to face in a tense standoff at the Kahnesatake reserve in Oka, Quebec, Saturday September 1, 1990. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Shaney Komulainen.”
For more information & resources see: https://warriorpublications.wordpress.com/2014/06/11/oka-crisis-1990/
