By Mahlon Smoke

On July 11, 2020, in Cornwall Ontario, a small group of people gathered at Lamoureux Park to bring awareness to the abuse Indigenous people endure by the hands of RCMP. This being the 30th anniversary of the famous Oka Crisis that still haunts many Indigenous people to this very day. Now with the recent Black Lives Matter marches, police brutality and police accountability being brought into the mainstream and Indigenous people all over Canada and the United States have shown their support. The recent killing of Indigenous people has been featured in the news and along with the sorrowed history of RCMP abuse, invasion, and killings of many Indigenous people. It's an open secret the RCMP has on their part treated Indigenous communities with disdain at best and open hostility at worst.

The small group marched down the streets of Cornwall informing people of the continued abuse of the Indigenous people, from Akwesasne to Wet'suwet'en and more. The rally began at 2:30 pm, but before the march, Jackie Hall gave a speech about why she was doing this. She informed the supporters of the anniversary and why they march. Not only for the anniversary, but for Black Lives Matter, and to bring up that RCMP are not exempt from topics of police brutality. Especially concerning recent claims that the RCMP may be allowed to patrol the waterway of the St. Lawrence with the Akwesasne Mohawk Police.

Hall said many communities have suffered under RCMP asserting their power over them and they will not stand for the RCMP trying to do so again.

"There is no education in this country about the Indigenous, it's why people don't know what is going on with our people. They think we're still in the past but we're not. We're still here." said Hall, on why these issues continue without the same amount of anger as Black Lives Matter.

BLM issues are coming to light and systemic racism is finally being called into question. While the issue of systemic racism has been haunting many minority groups for years, mainstream media has finally made it a hot button topic and finding ways to dismantle it has now become a common talking point.

According to Hall, with Akwesasne possibly having RCMP coming onto the territory, Hall and supporters do not want to take the risk and wish to make others aware of this ongoing issue of RCMP asserting themselves into sovereign nations. Hall believes that Akwesasne should be allowed to have Peacemakers and Tribal law to patrol the rivers without RCMP influence and the RCMP should stay out of Akwesasne.