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Documenting Our Time | by Danielle Soames In the summer of 1990, I received a frantic call from my mother, while away at University of Minnesota for my first year of college; telling me that something horrible had happened. There was a stand-off between the Mohawks of Kanesatake and the French Canadian government (Town of Oka). My first cousin was away at college with me and had to leave abruptly. His mother, my aunt, was one of the leaders of the Warrior Society and he needed to aide in the support to save our Mohawk land. The French Canadian government (Town of Oka) claimed that a golf course was going to be built in what they assumed was open and available land. However, that land they assumed was available was in fact Mohawk land which had grave stones belonging to Mohawk ancestors. Because there wasn't a piece of paper indicating who owned the land and despite burial stones existing on the land, the French Canadian Government (Town of Oka) decided they would claim the land as their own, to build on it as they wished. Well, the Mohawk people would not allow this to happen. And the 78 day stand-off began. The Mohawks of Kanesatake received help from Mohawks of other communities including Kahnawake, where my family is from. A barricade was built by piling police cars and dirt on the Mercier Bridge to restrict access to Oka and Kanesatake. As a scare tactic, the French-Canadian soldiers threw tear gas at the Mohawks. Gunfire was shot. The result-- one direct and two indirect deaths. Alanis Obomsawin, an Abenaki Native, received word of what is now known as the Oka Crisis almost immediately. Since she worked for the Canadian National Film Board, she was able to gather camera men and crew quickly. She understood that it was her duty as a Native woman and a filmmaker to document this story. She has since received numerous awards for her documentary film work and for the film about the Oka Crisis. This past May 2008, she was honored for 40 years of filmmaking at the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) and I had the pleasure to interview her after watching her film about the Oka Crisis: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Alanis Obomsawin interview: Danielle: After watching the documentary film, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, it was pretty evident how poorly the Canadian government conducted themselves. I just wonder... do you think there is ever going to be peace between the two people, between Mohawks and Canadian Government? Alanis: I think there are negotiations going on now, I don't think it's easy because among the Mohawk people, they don't necessarily agree, there are so many different groups and there is a lot of hardship, especially now in Kanesatake. A lot is going on there that makes me feel very sad and I'm very sorry to see them so against each other. Which is… that is the worst thing. Danielle: I have heard a little bit about the traditional people. You mention that the traditional people coincide with the government to try and make some kind of agreement, and then there are also the people who don't follow the traditions or belong to the Longhouse. (Longhouse: a traditional upbringing among the Iroquois people) Alanis: It is hardship, some communities work together, like the traditional and the elected government make decisions together. That is happening in certain places and that is where my hope is, that when you settle like that it is very hard to advance but I think that eventually it is going to happen, for sure, it has to. Danielle: You think it will happen in your lifetime? Alanis: Yes, I... well... at my age now... may not be in my lifetime! (Laughter) Danielle: Well you look good! Alanis: But I see a lot of changes in a lot of communities across the country. I just think that for the Mohawks especially in Kanesatake, it just seems so many bad feelings and hardships are going on right now that I don't know how much they can advance. Danielle: I wanted to ask you, what originated your interest in Mohawks, in following the Oka Crisis? Alanis: Well when I heard, I found out the day of the shooting, July 11th, so I went there right away. Danielle: Okay. Alanis: I felt that it was my duty to document this, to be one of us. Danielle: Did you know you were going to stay until the end? Alanis: Well nobody thought it would last that long. Danielle: Yeah, that's true. Alanis: Every week we thought "Oh, it was going to be over in a few days", but it was never over. Danielle: I remember when it first started. I remember my cousin left college to go and be one of the Warriors and I thought to myself, I should hear about what's going on. I was in Minnesota at the time and there are a lot of Native communities there. But we didn't hear anything. There was nothing as far as the media in the United States. Maybe there would be a little blurb on BBC but as far as the news coverage here (in the states) it wasn't covered. I think that is problematic as far as people being educated on what's happening with the tribes. They don't seem to know. Alanis: No, it's not easy to find out anything so I think eventually it is going to happen because it just has to. There are lots of treaties being worked out now across the country and some people don't want to sign any treaties with the government but some do. Some are being very progressive in their own negotiation. I think that really depends on their views. Danielle: Yes, I agree. That brings me to a point. I attended the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues about 3 years ago. A quorum was needed of representatives of all the different nations and the 3 major representatives who were missing were; Australia, United States, and Canada. There was no one present to speak on the Natives behalf. As the host of the event looked around the room to find representatives of those countries, no one raised their hand indicating they were present to represent. So I thought: "well couldn't there be someone?" Alanis: There usually is, I am surprised there wasn't. Danielle: It was a big shout out to how I think a lot of Natives feel, they are being shut out and don't feel like anyone cares, and that also brings me to the issue of human rights. Were there human rights organizations or the UN present at Oka? Alanis: Yes, human rights. There were plenty of human rights organizations present, they really did a lot of work to try and get the Mayor of Oka to change his mind about building the golf course and cutting down the pine trees, to try and really talk to the Mohawks. I saw them there. They wrote a report on it. You should ask for it, a very important report that they came out with. Danielle: Okay I will ask for that. This is more of a film-maker question; when your subjects are so emotional and things are happening around them; like the rocks being thrown in your documentary film, Whiskey Trench (Rocks at Whiskey Trench was one of the four smaller documentaries made from the film footage Kanesatake: 270 Years of Resistance) you see people getting beaten up, how do you maintain your focus and keep filming and not stop and say: "Hey, what are you doing?" Alanis: When the town people came out and the Mohawks were getting beaten up in the documentary film Whiskey Trench, I wasn't filming myself; I had a crew then, outside. When we were inside the barricade area among the pines with the Mohawks, I was filming. From the 8th of September on, I lost my camera men. They didn't want to stay there anymore. They said it was too much. Then I was alone to do the sound and imaging. Danielle: Were they Native? Alanis: No. Danielle: Wow. I noticed in your film 270 Years that film footage tape was confiscated by the government. Alanis: No, no, not from me. Danielle: Oh? Not from you? Lucky! (Laughter) In your documentary, I saw that film rolls were being taken and I was thinking... "Ah man, how did she get it back?" ‘Cause you had a 100 hours of film footage. Alanis: No not from me, other people had their material confiscated. Danielle: How did you keep your film from getting destroyed from the heat? Alanis: I had people taking it in every day to the film board because we were shooting on 16mm. Danielle: Okay. Alanis: I would go into the lab. But after the 8th of September, I had sent all my stock back with the last camera man, who left the stand-off grounds, to make sure the film was safe. I was worried I'd lose it or that it would get confiscated. So he took everything I had. I left two days before they did for that reason. If I had left with them, they would have confiscated all my material. When I left, I was able to keep everything and then I came back and shot from the other side of the barricade walls, where the Mohawks were camping out the last two days. I stayed an extra 2 weeks. I was there 78 days plus 2 weeks. Danielle: Oh wow. And how were the soldiers towards you? How did you keep the separation of being a film-maker and being a Native? Alanis: Well, the soldiers, some of them… you can't say that everybody is the same. Like, some soldiers insulted me and that really upset the Warriors because when I would come to the front of the barricade wall, some soldiers would call me "the Squaw" and it was difficult. Danielle: Yeah. Alanis: And then police insults were the same, I was insulted about everything but then some police officers were very nice to me. It's contrary. You have both things, whether it is the opposite, all the way, for anybody. Danielle: So when you are looking for the subjects for your next film, what is the deciding factor? Alanis: I never look for subjects because there is so much I want to do. And in the case of Kanesakte, I rushed in there while it was happening. So it is a different kind of filmmaking, like Guerrilla filmmaking. You are shooting as it happens and you never know what is going to happen. Usually if I pick a subject, I spend a long time just taping like this, just sound first. I don't bring a camera, at first. (note to readers: I tape recorded this interview) Danielle: And then you do the film footage afterwards? Alanis: I come later. If I do a documentary and documentaries, not you, decide on the stories, the people tell you their stories and you have to step back. Danielle: And then you make your story, piece it together? Alanis: By what the subjects say... Danielle: Do you draw out story boards for it? Alanis: Not really, I have in some, but I don't. Danielle: Oh, I like that... free thought. Yeah, I like to work like that; free form. It's better you know, you go by your heart, what it tells you. I wanted to ask you; how do you think we can educate the public more so they don't think that Indians are just playing the drums or only living on the rez? Alanis: Everything I do is to educate, everything, in every form, been doing it for a very long time. That is my main concern. Danielle: Did you start off as a teacher? Alanis: I started out by singing but I went to a lot of schools to teach, to talk about history; sing about it for many years before making films. Danielle: And did you have someone teach you about filmmaking? Alanis: Much later when I went to the Film Board, but I work there, this was my school, the best in the world. Danielle: So are you working on another project now that we could possibly see sometime soon? Alanis: I am working on a lot of things. Working on a film on a professor who is teaching at the University. His way of teaching is very special. I am also working on a series of children films. I also have to approve everything at the Board because they are doing a compilation of my work. It is a lot of work every day. They have to check the old masters and I have to go to a new format and I have to check all the subtitles; everything you see, and that takes a lot of my time. Plus all the traveling. Danielle: Yeah, do they call you up while you are traveling to ask you your opinions or suggestions? You don't have email, I hear, or you don't like it. Alanis: Well I get a lot of email but they go thru my assistant, if you want to send me an email you have to send it to her attention. Danielle: I like that, go thru the gate keeper. Danielle: When there is a dangerous situation, and you know you could get hurt, what gravitates you towards the situation? Alanis: Well it is very dangerous and frightening depending on you, how much you get afraid. There is another fear that is stronger than being afraid, it's that I feel I have a duty and the love for the people. That I'm going to do it. It's stronger than being afraid. Anything can happen. Some people just run, they don't want to be there. Danielle: It definitely seemed that anything did happen in your documentary film, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Have you been back to that area, where you filmed? Alanis: I was there in '91, '92 then I haven't been back there. Danielle: Do you think you might go, I guess it is now 17 years past coming… might do a follow up in 20 years past? Alanis: No. Danielle: There definitely is a lot of sadness, but strength. That is what I notice every time I go visit the rez. There also is a strange conflict between the communities that I never understood. Alanis: This is very hard to deal with. I just don't have time for that. Danielle: Yeah. Alanis: Picking at each other and talking bad about each other. I just don't have time. I'm not interested. Danielle: I think a lot of the people that live in the area Châteauguay... Alanis: Not just Châteauguay, Mohawks themselves. Alot of Mohawks had no use about the Warriors then. When they saw the film, they changed their mind. Danielle: That can definitely change a person's mind. I think it is sad that a lot of non-native people seem to believe that Natives are foreigners, seems to be that a lot of history is forgotten. I really enjoyed the fact that you put history in your films. That you went back in time to show Longhouses and the land separation. I think it is important because people forget. The same reason how they forget the Holocaust, people try and bring it back to the surface so others understand, but a lot of times I hear when Mohawk rights are brought back or land rights in general for Natives are brought back into light, a lot of people say: "quit your complaining, get over it already". And I have to think this ignorance is attributed to lack of education and our miswritten history books. When I was in school, Indians were savages and there wasn’t "Hey, be proud to be Indian and speak up". I was afraid to say that I was Indian because of the way people viewed us. I didn't grow up around a lot of Natives. I mainly grew up in a white community. Alanis: Oh well... everything helps. Danielle: So let me ask you with your busy schedule, how do you find time to have a personal life? Alanis: I don't have much of a personal life. Danielle: No? Alanis: I am very busy; I do a lot of things. I am very involved with children. I make toys for children. Danielle: You mentioned dolls? Alanis: Dolls, animals, all kinds of things. Danielle: Oh yeah? By hand? Alanis: Yes. Danielle: Oh, I love that. What kind of advice would you have for new documentary filmmakers? Alanis: To do something you have to have passion; that is the first thing, you have to be able to tell a story, if you don't know how to tell a story that is very hard. And believe in what you are doing because if it is just to entertain... Be concerned about making changes and wanting to educate, it is very important. To be able to listen, not trying to talk over your subjects or tell the story for them, that is what documentary filmmaking is.
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