Home · On This Day · Sept. 1, 1990
Oka stare-off
Broadcast Date: Sept. 2, 1990
(This clip is from CBC raw footage and features no reporter.) "I just wanna look at their faces before I kill 'em."On Sept. 1, 1990, a chilling stare-off between a Canadian soldier and a Mohawk warrior nicknamed Lasagna comes to personify the gulf between the natives and non-natives. Although the actual confrontation, as evident in this unedited footage, lasts mere seconds, the image would become a lasting symbol of the stand-off.
The Oka Crisis is sparked by something as innocuous as golf.
Natives barricade roads, protesting the Quebec municipality of Oka's plan to expand its existing nine-hole golf course to 18 holes. The proposed expansion lies on Mohawk's sacred burial grounds in the lush Kanesatake reserve, located west of Montreal. Oka's mayor says it belongs to the municipality.
The dispute over land claims pits the natives against the Quebec police force, and eventually the Canadian Army, as never before.
It results in the tragic shooting death of 31-year-old police officer Marcel Lemay.
The end of the tense 78-day standoff comes with the Mohawks surrendering voluntarily but the bitter divide over native land claims would remain a contentious issue.
Oka stare-off
• Mohawk warrior Ronald Cross, better known as Lasagna, got his nickname from his mother's Italian cooking. He died in 1999 of a heart failure. He was 41.• It turns out Cross, who had become the symbol of the stand-off when he was shown dressed in army fatigues and wearing a mask, standing nose-to-nose with a Canadian soldier, wasn't the man in the photo. But the incident gained him notoriety.
• At the end of the 78-day standoff, 34 people were arrested but all were acquitted on charges ranging from weapons possession to assault and participating in a riot.
• A coroner's report into the shooting death of Marcel Lemay concluded the shot was fired by a Mohawk warrior, but failed to identify the killer. In the end no one was charged with Lemay's murder.
Oka stare-off
Medium: Television
Program: CBC Television News
Broadcast Date: Sept. 2, 1990
:
Duration: 2:36
Last updated:
April 13, 2006
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Oka stare-off.
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Last updated: April 13, 2006.
[Page consulted on March 21, 2010.]