It has now been 19 years since the "Oka Crisis" during which the municipality of Oka and developers, in collusion with the federal and provincial governments, attempted to defraud the Mohawk peoples of Kanehsatà:ke of our ancestral pines to make way for the expansion of a 9-hole golf course and a condominium development.

19 years later, nothing has changed as the municipality of Oka, with the approval of the federal government, continues to defraud Mohawk peoples of our land and its resources through housing developments, the nationalizing of Oka Park and the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act (KILBGA).

Ellen Gabriel, one of the most prominent Mohawk spokespeople during the Oka Crisis, wrote these words last July.  In response to her appeal, members of the Regroupement de solidarité avec les Autochtones met and decided to work with the Kanehsatake Mohawk community to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Oka Crisis.  Our goal is to mobilize former members of the Regroupement and new people sympathetic to the Native cause for a march to be held July 11, 2010.

This march will highlight the fact that twenty years after the police invasion of the Mohawk territory of Kanehsatake on July 11, 1990, nothing has really changed: the deep-rooted causes of what is known as the Oka Crisis are still there.  It will also underline the attitude of both Canadian and Québec governments towards Native people, particularly Canada's refusal to sign the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Quebec's silence on this issue.

We're sending you this message because you've shown in the past that you were committed to fair treatment for Native people and respect for their rights, and we believe you might want to join us for activities organized this summer.  As always, the Regroupement relies solely on people's voluntary commitment and contributions to carry out tasks and cover expenses (which are always kept to a strict minimum). 

The first thing we are asking you to do is simply to send this appeal to anyone you know who might be interested in helping us make our voice heard on issues related to the role, rights and autonomy of the Native peoples with whom we share this territory.  This is very important in that we are unable to reach many people on the Regroupement's mailing list, which is almost ten years old.

Next, the Regroupement will need people able and willing to take on all kinds of tasks such as making phone calls, translating a few texts, distributing flyers, etc.

Times being what they are, instead of doing everything by phone and mail we plan to use a blog to send out information, gather responses to this appeal and register people for our activities. Our site, http://rsa.site.koumbit.net, will be on line soon.

For the Kanehsatake march on July 11, 2010, we suggest that you visit the site to register.  This will allow us to contact you when all details are settled.

We're looking forward to having you join us soon with renewed energy for the Native cause.

In solidarity,

Regroupement de solidarité avec les Autochtones