Mark Melnychuk, Regina Leader-Post
A soldier’s helmet, a gas mask and a knife feature prominently on a shelf.
There
are stacks of gun magazines and books for everything a soldier might
need in the field, including a survival manual and a U.S. Army Special
Forces medical handbook.
This isn’t some military barracks, but
Chris Big Eagle’s home on the Ocean Man First Nation, located almost 20
kilometres north of Stoughton in the province’s southeast.
Sunlight
from outside pours in with a red tint, filtered through a flag that
hangs in a window. It’s the flag of the Mohawk Warrior Society,
depicting the head of an Indigenous man at the centre of a golden sun on
a blood red backdrop.
On a wall decorated with newspaper
clippings and pictures, one photo shows an Indigenous man clad in
camouflage, sunglasses and a mask. He stands face-to-face with a
Canadian soldier.
It’s an iconic image captured during the Oka
crisis in 1990. Opposed to expansion of a golf course and condos on land
claimed by the people of the Kanesatake reserve in southern Quebec, the
Mohawk Warrior Society faced off against the Canadian Army.
Contemporary
warrior societies began emerging in the 1960s as a way for Indigenous
people to protect their culture and land. The movement gained momentum
and exposure at the height of the Oka crisis...https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/fighting-for-their-people-meet-saskatchewans-indigenous-warriors/wcm/08444ae8-05dd-412c-9b01-ed52e97e745d
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