Harry Swain Deputy Minister of Indian & Northern Affairs during the Oka Crisis

On July 11, 1990, tension between white and Mohawk people at Oka, just west of Montreal, took a violent turn. At issue was the town’s plan to turn a piece of disputed land in the community of Kanesatake into a golf course. Media footage of rock-throwing white residents and armed, masked Mohawk Warriors facing police across barricades shocked Canadians and galvanized Aboriginal people from coast to coast. In August, Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa called for the Canadian army to step in.

Harry Swain was deputy minister of Indian Affairs throughout the 78 -day standoff, and his recreation of events is dramatic and opinionated. Swain writes frankly about his own role and offers fascinating profiles of the high-level players on the government’s side—Quebec Native Affairs Minister John Ciaccia, federal Indian Affairs Minister Tom Siddon, Chief of the Defence Staff General John de Chastelain, Premier Robert Bourassa and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Swain offers rare insight into the workings of government in a time of crisis, but he also traces what he calls the 200-year tail of history and shows how the Mohawk experience reflects the collision between European and Aboriginal cultures.

Twenty years on, health, social and economic indicators for Aboriginal Canadians are still shameful. The well-funded “Indian industry” is a national disgrace, Swain says, and the Indian Act is in urgent need of replacement. Identifying current flashpoints for Aboriginal land rights across the country, he argues that true reconciliation will not be possible until government commits to meaningful reform.

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Chief Hazel Fox Recollet of The Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve

Wiki Pow Wow

Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve (usually known as Wikwemikong or Wiky) is an Indian reserve in the north-eastern section of Manitoulin Island in Manitoulin District, Ontario, Canada. Wikwemikong is an unceded Indian reserve in Canada, which means that it has not "relinquished title to its land to the government by treaty or otherwise." The name Wikwemikong means "bay of beavers".

The reserve is occupied by Ojibwa, Odawa and Potawatomi peoples, under the Council of Three Fires. From 1836 to 1862, the entirety of Manitoulin Island was set aside as the "Manitoulin Island Indian Reserve" under the Bond Head Treaty. The most important of the pre-confederation treaties were the Robinson Treaties because all subsequent treaties were modeled after these! In 1850, William B Robinson, a government negotiator and former fur trader, proposed that First Nations reserves be created on the Crown Land acquired through treaties. These Reserves were intended to be the answer to what the immigrant settlers needed for land settlement. First Nation peoples would be set apart on reserves from the new settlers. The Robinson-Huron and Robinson-Superior treaties were signed in September 1850 for large territories north of the two Great Lakes.

According to written records, Lake Huron and Lake Superior area leaders surrendered nearly 15 000 000 hectares of land in exchange for the establishment of 24 RESERVES and a payment of approximately $10 000 to be followed by additional annual payment of $2700. However, First Nations leaders were lead to believe that the agreement was to share the land with the colonists and retain their rights to hunt and fish throughout the area.

Wikwemikong as it exists today was created in 1968, when the two unceded bands and the Point Grondine band amalgamated as the Wikwemikong band.

The reserve is also home to the Wikwemikong Cultural Festival (Wikwemikong Pow Wow) which is held annually every Civic Holiday Weekend (first weekend in August).

This annual event is touted as the largest and oldest Pow Wow in Eastern Canada. Considered to be one of the major Pow Wows in North America, it is attended by many Aboriginal dancers who participate in competition of all age ranges, demonstrating Traditional, Grass, Jingle, and Fancy Dancing.
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Lawyer for The American Indian Movement - Wounded Knee 1973

Mr. Lane represented the American Indian Movement at the historic Wounded Knee trial, which he won.  Following the trial, the United States District Court judge who had tried the case said, "Mark Lane is the finest investigative lawyer in America."The 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee of over 300 men, women and children was one of the most brutal acts of the U.S. government. Pine Ridge Reservation was created based on a treaty negotiated in response to the armed resistance of the tribe. Today there are families who trace their history back to the Wounded Knee massacre and to signers of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty. In 1973, many elders feared that their cultural traditions and religious ceremonies were quickly being lost. Hopelessness was growing out of the lack of leadership from the tribal council, as well as a series of incidents including the killing by police of an Indian youth in the reservation border town of Custer. Continued collaboration by the tribal leaders with anti- Indian policies of the federal government led to the occupation of the Wounded Knee hamlet, the site of the 1890 massacre. Oglala Sioux Tribe members and leaders of AIM undertook an action to dramatize the conditions on Pine Ridge Reservation. As a result, the world's attention became focused on the racism faced by Indians on reservations and in the cities, too. The occupation became a 71-day struggle between activists and armed FBI agents and the National Guard. Those occupying believed the conditions were so drastic that they had to take a stand. Many expected to be killed - like their ancestors in 1890 - and two did die.

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