Janet Rogers says the Oka Crisis changed her life
The Oka Crisis motivated Mohawk/Tuscarora poet Janet Rogers to stand up for her people, her culture and herself.
Standoff motivated Mohawk/Tuscarora poet to stand-up for her people, her culture and herself.
Mohawk/Tuscarora poet and performer Janet Rogers was living in Toronto and cleaning streets for a living during the summer of 1990 — something she calls honest work.
When she heard about the standoff at Oka, she really wanted to be there, standing with the Mohawk people of Kanesatake.
"When I first saw the news reports in July of 1990, they called it a crisis — the Oka Crisis. But it didn't look like a crisis to me. It just looked like people defending their land," said Rogers.
Click the listen button above to find out how Janet was motivated to stand up for her people, her culture and herself.