The Oka Crisis and Beans

This morning I heard an encore CBC Radio Q interview with filmmaker  Beans is a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by Mohawk  filmmaker Tracey Deer which explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake. Deer lived through these traumatic months  as a child, and the film looks at the events through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa a  girl whose nickname is Beans. It was gripping to hear her recollections about what unfolded, her bewilderment and fear along the way. 

The Oka Crisis, also known as the Kanesatake Resistance or the Mohawk Resistance at Kanesatake, was a 78-day standoff (11 July–26 September 1990) between Mohawk protesters, Quebec police, the RCMP and the Canadian Army. 

It took place in the community of Kanesatake, near the Town of Oka, on the north shore of  Montreal. The crisis erupted because of the proposed expansion of a golf course and the development of townhouses on disputed land in Kanesatake that included a Mohawk burial ground. Tensions escalated after an exchange of gunfire resulted in the death of police officer Corporal Marcel Lemay. Eventually, the army was called in and the protest ended. The golf course expansion was cancelled and the land was purchased by the federal government. 

I remember sitting alone early that first morning in July 1990 listening to a CBC Radio report which included the sound of gunshots and I had no idea what to think. As the days progressed I came to realize why this land was so important to the people of Kanesatake and I was dismayed by the open racism of so many in Quebec which included threats of violence. 

We lived in Northern Ontario at the time and this was one of a series of events which awakened me to the inequities regarding Indigenous peoples in Canada. And we had moved to Sudbury in 1988, only two years after the United Church offered its first apology in Indigenous leaders. I began reading, listening, attending events which changed my outlook, which had largely been one of indifference. 

The film Beans hasn't been on my radar but now I would like to see it. --if Mr. Bean would move over I might have greater success finding it!