Hundreds march to commemorate Oka crisis
'The struggles since 1990 have not been forgotten'

By David Johnston, Montreal Gazette July 11, 2010

OKA - More than 250 aboriginals and non-aboriginals from the Montreal region and farther afield joined in a march through Oka on Sunday morning to mark the 20th anniversary of the Oka crisis.

"It's a great feeling - it shows me and the people of Canada that the struggles since 1990 have not been forgotten," said Kevin Daniels, a Plains Cree from Regina, Sask.

The morning march, and Saturday's day of commemorative activities, were held to mark the 78-day standoff between the Kanesatake Mohawks and the Sûreté du Québec, and later the Canadian Army.

The standoff saw the barricade erected on a hill on Highway 344 to prevent expansion of a municipal golf course onto land that Mohawks said was sacred to them. It included pine woodland and a burial ground.

An attempt by the SQ to break through the barricade failed, and saw 31-year old SQ Cpl. Marcel Lemay killed by an unknown gunman. Lemay's sister, Francine Lemay, was scheduled to read from a book she has written about the crisis at a ceremony to be held late Sunday afternoon in Kanehsatake.

The morning march moved peacefully through the streets of Oka under hot and humid conditions. It was led and followed by single SQ police cars, moving slowly with flashing lights. Behind the lead police car was a 4x4 all-terrain vehicle driven by Harvey Nicholas, 63, of Kanesatake, who was on the barricades 20 years ago.

"It's a sad day for me," Nicholas said.

He said he was sad because so many of the other men who were on the barricades with him during the summer of 1990 have died over the years, mainly of diabetes and heart disease.