This essay is comparing the differences between the crisis’ that happened in Oka, Caledonia, and Ipperwash. They may be different in small ways, but really they are all quite similar in terms of the root problems. All of the issues involved land disputes. The natives saying it was their land and the government trying to take it away from them.

The Oka Crisis started on July 11, 1990 when a golf course in Oka was going to expand to 19 holes on the Mohawk peoples land. There was protesting and some vandalism but on July the police were brought in. The Mohawks were armed with guns and that’s when the gunfire started. The police released tear gas and it backfired on them when the wind changed direction. The gunfire then started, although no one was sure who fired first. At the end of the gunfire the Mohawk people made a barricade out of police cruisers and Officer Lemay had been shot in the face and died. Next the Armed Forces were brought in because the police felt it was out of their hands. The army refused to negotiate while the barricades were up, so it took a long time to resolve anything. Meanwhile the Mercier Bridge was barricaded by other native peoples who were angry with the situation. This angered many white people so it actually came to the extent where an effigy of a native person was burned in front of an Esso gas station. On September 26, 1990 the Mohawks surrendered and the ordeal was over. In the end, the golf course was not expanded.

The Ipperwash dispute started during World War II, in 1942, when the Canadian Army evacuated the town of Stoney Point so they could set up a temporary military camp. The Chippewas were given about $50 000 dollars for letting the military use the area. In 1945 the Assembly of First Nations people wanted to have the reserve given back to them but the government refused to leave the camp. In 1981, the military paid them an extra $2.5 million dollars and said they would give back the reserve when the military no longer needed it. In 1985, the Chippewas were given permission to hunt and fish on the reserve during hunting and fishing seasons. They were also promised that every four years the military use of the camp was going to be reviewed so they could see if they still needed it. But still, the government never gave back the camp. A year later, the government said they wanted to negotiate and give the land back to the Chippewas. After negotiations the military left the area. Some months later a group of natives were staying there to protect and claim a sacred burial ground, one member was shot and killed by Ontario Provincial Police.

The Grand River land dispute a.k.a. Caledonia dispute became know to the people of Canada on February 28, 2006. On that day, protesters from the group “Six Nations on the Grand River” tried to raise awareness about first nation’s claims in Ontario. Although it was mainly about the part of land in Caledonia which they claimed was theirs. Henco Industries planned to develop on the land and they claimed that the natives surrendered the land in 1841, and that Henco later purchased it from the Crown. But the six nations will not give up what is rightfully theirs.

In conclusion, the government of Canada has really tried and successfully been controlling over the native peoples land and rights. It’s really not fair and they should give the native people of Canada freedom and let them keep their rights.