The Oka Legacy

44MIN DOCUMENTARY 🔴 ENGLISH

a POV documentary that explores how the Oka Crisis has influenced contemporary Indigenous Identity in canada.

In the summer of 1990, all eyes were on the small town of Oka, Quebec. Triggered by plans to expand a golf course on ancestral land, it was a standoff between the Mohawk people of Kanehsatake, the police and eventually the army. The Oka Crisis, which lasted 78 days and drew worldwide attention, had a profound impact on Indigenous peoples in Canada. It set the tone for Indigenous resistance throughout the ‘90s, and inspired many people & communities to take action. The Oka Crisis Legacy is a POV documentary that explores how the Oka Crisis has influenced Indigenous identity in Canada. This film will show just how crucial the events of that summer were in the shaping of contemporary Canada, where every facet of society is now influenced by a strong Aboriginal presence.

WRITER & DIRECTOR
Sonia Bonspille-Boileau

Sonia is a bilingual award winning Mohawk filmmaker and graduate from Concordia University’s Mel

Hoppenheim School of Cinema. Over the last few years, Sonia has developed and produced television

projects in English and French ranging from children's programming to socially driven documentaries.

Her work has aired on several Canadian and international television broadcasters, and her projects have

caught the attention of major film festivals around the world. Sonia won the PRIX DE LA DIVERSITÉ at

the 2011 Gala des Prix Gémeaux for her documentary Last call indien. In 2014, Sonia’s first feature film,

Le Dep, was green-lit by Telefilm Canada. It premiered at the prestigious Karlovy Vary International Film

Festival in the Czech Republic. Since august 2015 it has made the official selection of several festivals

including Montreal First Peoples Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival

in London, ImagineNATIVE Film Festival and the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco. She has

also just completed a documentary for CBC about the impact of the 1990 Oka Crisis called The Oka Legacy,

Mohawk filmmaker Sonia Bonspille Boileau explores how the Oka Crisis, triggered by the planned expansion of a golf course on unceded land in 1990, has influenced Indigenous identity in Canada.