Bad memories revived

The different events linked to the rail blockade in Kahnawake during the past week revived bad memories of the Oka Crisis and the blockade of the Mercier Bridge in 1990. Translation Dan Rosenburg Quebec Premier François Legault affirmed at a press scrum on Wednesday, February 26 that the Surete du Quebec was not applying the injunction for dismantling the barricade at Kahnawake because of the presence of "dangerous arms," including AK-47 guns. This information was denied and denounced by the Mohawk Nation, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and the Kahnawake Peacekeepers. They all qualified the words of the Premier as "dangerous and provocative."  The day after this affirmation, the parliamentary adjunct of Public Security Minister Ian Lafreniere wanted to "clarify the facts" by submitting that Legault was not targeting the people present at the barricade, but rather "that more radical people  had access to some firearms" on the aboriginal territory. Kaniehtiio Horn of Kahnawake denounced Legault's words on the social media. "I'm one of the many survivors of the 1990 Oka crisis. Legault spreading this false information could ruin the work we have done over 30 years to repair our relations with surrounding communities. We have no weapons," affirmed the aboriginal actress. Mercier Bridge Earlier in the week, on February 24, the demonstrators slowed down traffic towards the Mercier Bridge on Routes 132 and 138 to immobilize it for a few minutes. This demonstration followed the dismantling of the barricade of the Mohawks from the Tyendinaga community alongside the train tracks in Ontario. The gesture created a wind of panic in the Mohawk community. The pupils from Kahnawake schools as well as 145 Mohawk students who attend schools in Chateauguay, were kept at home. "We took our kids out of school because we weren't sure what was going to happen and it caused some panic in the community. People started to relive those kind of memories that occurred in 1990 and that's not something we want to experience again," explained MCK Chief Ietsénhaienhs Kahsennenhawe Sky-Deer at a press conference. The MCK held an emergency meeting with the community on the evening of the demonstration at the Mercier Bridge. Grand Chief Joe Norton made an appeal for calm. Several members of the community expressed fears of becoming victims of racism as was the case in 1990. Chateauguay resident Chandra Labelle, an Algonquin Aboriginal mother of two pre-adolescents shared this feeling. Since then, she has been monitoring on a daily basis what is happening in Kahnawake to see whether or not she should send her children to school. She is afraid they will become victims of racist comments. "I have fears of those who have pre-conceptions of the aboriginal cause through a lack of knowledge," she explained. The barricade close to the tracks in Kahnawake were erected on February 8 as a guise of solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en people in British Columbia who oppose a gas/pipeline project that goes through their territory. CP Rail obtained an injunction on February 25 to dismantle the blockade. But it was still in place at the moment these lines were written.