You Are on Indian Land (1969)

Directed by

Mort Ransen, Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell

Genre

documentary film

Country

Canada

Runtime

37 min

Rated

PG

Rating

9.0 of 10 from 3 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

Mohawk protesters block a border bridge to demand their rights under the Jay Treaty. The film shows the standoff with police and the community's push for self-determination.

topicalurgentconfrontationalground-levelintimatematter-of-factprotest-drivencommunity-focused

What happens

You Are on Indian Land is a 1969 documentary film directed by Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell about the 1969 Akwesasne border crossing dispute. He covered the confrontation between police and Mohawk of the St. Regis Reservation on a bridge between Canada and the United States, which stands on Mohawk land near Cornwall, Ontario. By blocking traffic from the bridge, the Mohawk sought to call attention to their grievance that they were prohibited by Canadian authorities from duty-free passage of personal purchases across the border. They claimed this right as part of their right of free passage across the border, as established by the 1794 Jay Treaty between Great Britain and the United States after the latter gained independence in the American Revolutionary War. The film portrayed the rising activism of the Mohawk and demands for self-determination, which has continued. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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