The Oka Crisis, Grassy Narrows and The Black Lives Matter movement are all protests that occurred to fight against injustices that affected specific groups. The protests and the resulting actions demonstrate the role of protesting in society. 

In the mostly peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in America, police were instructed to dispan the protests, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters. The protests were to highlight the inequalities that African Americans face.  The American president at the time, Donald Trump, pushed all states to take action to stop the protests, threatening to send in the military if they refused to comply. As a result, National Guard troops were deployed in several states, with Trump demanding them to dominate. (Al Jazeera, 2020). Despite this, the movement was met with an overwhelming amount of support and succeeded in making the public aware of the inequalities African Americans face. 

Similarly, in the Oka Crisis, the Canadian government decided to involve violence to resolve the protests.  After the Mohawk First Nations created a barricade to prevent the extension of a golf course on Mowhawk cemetery land, 2 injunctions were issued to remove the roadblock. When the Mowhawk protesters refused to obey, the Oka town council requested the provincial police force (Sûreté du Québec) to take action.  The RCMP was later involved in aiding the SQ. Despite the difficulties, the Mohawk protesters continued their protest, responding violently to the groups sent to attack them.  The government eventually involved the military in the standoff, resulting in the Mohawk protesters surrendering. As a result of their resilience, the golf course extension was cancelled. 

In both protests, the government's decision to use violence to stop the protests could have been for a variety of reasons. Governments received pressure from citizens, who claimed the protesters were an inconvenience and disruptance to their lives. In the Oka Crisis, angry Quebecers who were against the protest stoned cars attempting to leave the reserve. There was also a march involving 10,000 people to demand the removal of the Mercier Bridge. The Black Lives Matter protest was also met with hatred and criticism online. The criticism pressured the government into taking action. 

While it is understandable that the governments wanted to stop the protests, using violence would contradict the role of the government. A government is meant to aid and do what is best for its citizens, not inflict pain on them. Therefore, while threatening violence as a fear tactic is justifiable, taking arms against citizens is not. The only appropriate time for a government to harm its citizens is when the citizens have caused harm to others. In the case of The Oka Crisis and Black Lives Matter, the protesters had not caused any harm prior to government involvement, making the government’s interference unjustifiable. The reasoning behind this is the ethical and legal concept of self-defence. If someone harmed you, you are allowed to harm them back. This concept would also apply to the protesters. This would mean the violent actions of the Mowhawk protesters in the Oka Crisis are morally correct, as violence had been inflicted on them first. 

In addition, less violent protests are often less effective. This is seen with the Grassy Narrows case. In the first nation reserve Grassy Narrows, the water is infected with Mercery. This affects the community tremendously, with the Ojbewe residents restoring to water jugs for their water supply. The water is also a physical hazard to the resident's health, causing 90% of Grassy Narrows residents to have health issues. (PSAC-AFPC, 2016). In an attempt to fight this injustice, two protesters took a non-violent approach to get their concerns heard. They attended a liberal fundraising event and interrupted prime minister Justin Trudeau's speech. Instead of having their concerns addressed, Trudeau gave a sarcastic comment, poking fun at the donation they spent in order to attend the fundraiser. (CBC News, 2019)

Because of their non-violent protest methods, The Grassy Narrows protests are less well-known than the Oka Crisis and Black Lives Matter.  In the Black Lives Matter protest and the Oka crisis, protesters were able to meet their end goal, mostly due to the attention they received. However, the water issue in Grassy Narrows is still unsolved, and the only response they received was ridicule from the Prime Minster. This proves that non-violent protests are not necessarily the best way to achieve change. To draw attention to a protest (through media coverage, newspaper etc.), you must do something that would go against society’s social norms or expectations. 

In conclusion, the three protests demonstrate the important role that protests hold in a democratic society. In all three examples, it allowed citizens to hold their elected representatives responsible and gave citizens the power of creating change. However, the change is dependent on the protest's visibility and mainstream acceptance, as seen through the lack of change from the Grassy Narrows protest.

Citations:

Al Jazeera. (2020, June 9th). Trump threatens use of military force [Video] aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2020/6/9/trump-threatens-use-of-military-force

PSAC-AFPC. (2016, June 21st). The story of Grassy Narrows [Video]

youtube.com/watch?v=9E06pWtCHIg&ab_channel=PSAC-AFPC

CBC News. (2019, March 28th) Trudeau apologizes to Grassy Narrows protester he thanked for 'donation' [Video] youtube.com/watch?v=TCkOjroS9zc&ab_channel=CBCNews

Oka Crisis (Kanesatake Resistance) | The Canadian Encyclopedia. (n.d.). thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/timeline/oka-crisis