Warriors first to step to the front lines for their people

Page 4

Don't forget the warriors, we many never see their like again.

These words were uttered by a veteran of the modern-day Indian wars of the early 70s in response to the apparent end of the American Indian Movement's most active era.

>From 1968 to 1976 AIM and its leaders were the focus of a virtual media circus whose progey remain hunkered down around Oka, Que., awaiting either resolution or revolution.

While it is true the major venue of AIM activity was the United States, the movement did attract and affect many like-minded Canadian Indians.

The 70-day standoff in Pine Ridge, South Dakota in 1973 became the prototype used by the Ojibway Warriors Society when they occupied Anishinabe Park in Kenora, Ontario during the late summer of 1974.

Both incidents, like Oka, involved armed Indian "warriors" taking a stand against government inactivity regarding land or rights or both.

Both incidents attracted legions of journalists and the resultant public paranoia. Both incidents ended peacefully, although a Cherokee man was killed by a stray bullet in Pine Ridge.

Not so strangely, the public outcry over the death of an Indian by misfortune was but a whisper when compared to the similar fate of a Quebec policeman.

AIM was more a vehicle for cultural and traditional resurgence than it was for armed confrontation and militancy. It had its beginnings in the "red ghetto" of Minneapolis, Minnisota in 1963.

The first years of activity were centred on the essential needs of city-living Indians. Education, housing and employment are hardly the hue and cry of treason-minded insurgents eager to hold a country at bay.

Over the next six years, AIM entered the fight for Indian fishing rights, land claims, educational needs, housing concerns and examination of treaty violations.

Their prime motivation was increasing the awareness of the plight of the Indian in contemporary North America and rekindling the flames of the old traditional campfires in the people themselves.

In situations that required it, AIM was more than ready to stand up and fight for its people.

With the slogan "in the spirit of Crazy Horse" as their motto, AIM and its followers emulated the warrior creed of the most famous of Sioux war chiefs. In this, they were more than ready to die for their people. Unfortunately, some of them did.

That we are seeing a mirror image confrontation in Oka is testimony to the widespread effect AIM people had on their cousins all across Indian Country.

However, we don't need any more dead red heroes.

Since the early 70s the Indian mentality in Canada has evolved into a cohesive political intellect.

Prior to the so-called insurrections of that decade, and consequently the current Oka stalemate, the Indian people of this country had yet to unify themselves into a solid front.

In the post-AIM backwash of the last 12 years the Indians have become educated, enlightened and empowered.

If the militancy of the AIM years did anything, it served to show Indian people they could indeed take control of their lives, make changes and nurture their own growth and development.

The warriors themselves were first to admit their actions were always for the long-term benefit of the people.

So the term "warrior society" presents a curious dichotomy.

For the Indians it is a reconnection to tribalism.

The warriors of those ancient tribal ways were the first to go hungry so the people could eat. They were the first to step into the front lines in defence of the people. The stood stauchly behind their traditionalism and stood staunchly beside each other when the crunch was on.

For the Indians, the warriors represent the spirit of 1300 in the context of 1990.

For non-Indians it is a flagrant breach of societal structure. The warriors represent a vision of Canada that just doesn't fit the standard refrain of "the true north strong and free."

They represent a seething undercurrent of a reality that is not obvious from reclusive urban neighborhods. They represent the possible wrongdoing of the system and that is more comfortably ignored than confronted.

That implies wrongdoing gave rise to the American Indian Movement in 1968. In turn, AIM itself gave rise to the rebirth of Indian consciousness amongst the people themselves and their supporters across Canada.

In its turn the situation in Oka will give a further transfusion of tribalism into the lifeblood of Indian circles and rejuvenated initiatives against a system ultimately responsible for everything.

Neither God nor the Indians created AIM, militancy or the Oka conflict; society die.

The harder issues of Indian life in Canada need to be addressed, resolved and clarified by government because, as is obvious today, the Indians have never forgotten their warriors.

EAGLE FEATHER: To all non-Indians unafraid to raise their voices in support of the wrongness that created Oka.