The Iroquois, Haudenosaunee or "People of the Longhouse" are a league of indigenous peoples of North America consisting of the Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Mohawk, & Tuscarora nations.
Laura Cornelius Kellogg was an Oneida First Nations woman who devoted her life to activism for Native American rights. She was the voice for Oneida people, as well as the other Haudenosaunee tribes. She fought for land in New York (Haudenosaunee territory) tribal autonomy and self government.
“See all this land? This is Kanesatake. It doesn’t belong to Oka, it belongs to the (Mohawk) people of Kanesatake,” said Ellen Gabriel, during a tense exchange with Oka mayor Pascal Quevillon. “We’re not going to allow you to build any more homes on our land.”
For anyone who’s not aware, the city of Oka and the people of Kanesatake (including Ellen Gabriel in particular, from the video above) already had a violent land dispute 27 years ago, over a proposed golf course. They set up a barricade as part of their protest against the use of Mohawk land, and Quebec provincial police and Canadian Armed Forces were sent in, and spent 78 days surrounding the Mohawk camp.
