Film Screening: Rocks at Whiskey Trench | Wednesday 27 July

Join us at the Kitchener Public Library for a free screening of the documentary Rocks at Whiskey Trench (2000) by celebrated Abenaki filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin. 

This film is the fourth in Obomsawin's landmark series on the Kanien’kehá:ka resistance at Oka that would become a pivot point in contemporary relationships between Indigenous nations and Canada. Rocks at Whisky Trench also forms the basis of Archer Pechawis' video performance and installation, For Mike, which is currently on view in Powerful Glow.

At the height of tensions at Oka, Quebec, in 1990, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) women, children and Elders fled their community of Kahnawake out of fear for their safety. Once past the Canadian Army that surrounded their home, they were assaulted by angry settler protesters who pelted their convoy with rocks. This visceral display of hatred and violence – rarely seen so publicly in Canada – shocked the nation and revealed the severity of the dangers that faced the Kanien’kehá:ka in their struggle to defend a sacred site.