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by Ivan Sache, 20 March 2013See also:
The municipality of Oka (4,678 inhabitants in 2006; 6,721 ha) is located in
MRC Deux-Montagnes, Region Laurentides.
Oka was founded in 1721 as
Mission du Lac des Deux-Montagnes. The domain of Lac des Deux-Montagnes was
granted by the King of France to the Society of Saint-Sulpice. The Sulpicians
erected in 1740-1742 the Oka Calvary to evangelize the natives. Made of four
oratories and three chapels, the Oka Calvary was in the 19th century the most
important place of pilgrimage in the region of Montreal. The festival of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross attracted in 1889 some 30,000 pilgrims. The
Notre-Dame du Lac Abbey was founded in 1881 by Trappist monks and closed on 28
February 2009. The monks established the Oka Agricultural Institute,
subsequently made a Faculty of Agriculture affiliated to the University of
Montreal, and the School of Veterinary Medicine. The famous hen "Chantecler",
registered in 1921, was bred by the monks, who also produced the Oka cheese, now
manufactured by the Agropur dairy cooperative. When the local post office was
inaugurated in 1867, the name of Mission du Lac des Deux-Montagnes, deemed too
long, was changed for Oka, a tribute to the Algonquin chief Paul Oka ("Golden
Fish"). The Municipality of Oka, established in 1874, was divided in 1917 into
the Municipality of Partie Nord de l'Annonciation d'Oka, renamed in 1977
Municipality of the Parish of Oka, and into the Municipality of the Village of
Oka. The two entities were reunited in 1999 to form the Municipality of Oka.
http://www.municipalite.oka.qc.ca
- Municipal website
Ivan
Sache, 20 March 2013
Image prepared after a photo was contributed on 20
September 2012 to Waymarking
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMFAMH_Le_drapeau_dOka_Qc
Ivan
Sache, 20 March 2013
The Municipal Council voted in early 2000 a Resolution prescribing the design
of new arms for the new municipality of Oka. The arms were designed by André de
Pagès, heraldist and art historian.
The arms are "Per fess, 1. A chief
azure a mount tenné watered by a span of water azure fessy wavy argent a yellow
walleye* natant or ensigned by three chapels argent port sable surmounted by a
cross argent flanked sinister by a star argent, 2a. Vert a garb bound gules, 2b.
Purpure a fleur-de-lis or." The shield is in French modern shape.
The
chief azure represents the blue sky, serenity and purity.
The two mounts
recall the historical name of the place, "Deux-Montagnes" (French, Two
Mountains). On the upper mountain stands the Calvary**, a sacred site inspired
by Golgotha in Jerusalem, the place where Christ was crucified. Tenné [orange]
is the colour of the rich and fertile soil.
The water span represents the
lake (Lac des Deux Montagnes*** - Lake of the Two Mountains) that waters the
region.
The yellow walleye recalls an Algonquin chief named Oka (in
Algonquin, Walleye), after whom the village of Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation was
renamed Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation d'Oka, and eventually Oka. [Thus the fish
makes the arms canting.]
The three chapels are the symbol of the settlement
by a human, Christian community.
The cross argent is a symbol of hope and
humility.
The ports represent the doors that allow pilgrims to enter and
pray. Sable is a symbol of patience and firmness, in compliance
with the
Sulpician principles.
The star recalls the old name of the place as a symbol
of the Annunciation, after the Mission du Lac des Deux Montagnes was renamed to
Notre-Dame de l'Annonciation in 1786. The star reflects the merging of the
former village municipality and parish municipality of Oka. Argent is a symbol
of hope and renewal. The two former municipalities are also recalled by the
division of the shield into two parts.
The garb is a symbol of the primary
vocation of a part of the municipality, agriculture. Or represents abundant
production. The red binding is a symbol of the farmer's fierce work and his
commitment to cropping the land. Red is a symbol of the farmer's two great
virtues: bravery and boldness, which are required to face the up and downs of
natural environment. The green base is a symbol of land and abundance.
The
fleur-de-lis is the symbol of royalty, recalling that the territory was once a
royal concession. Or, the colour of the noblest metal, is a personification of
the sun, of wealth, force and faith. Purpure represents the establishment of the
religious rule and
reflects the grace of God and of the world.
The
motto, "Histoire, abondance sont ses récoltes" [History, Abundant are its
Harvests] expresses the willingness that has fostered for centuries a community
formed by two distinct races, which, in spite of some disagreements*****, never
stopped growing together and to created the history of an ever renewed region.
The motto represents also the eventful history of the colonization of the
region, clearing, work awarded by prosperity and abundant harvests, and
achievements; it represents the human being, his faith, courage, offspring,
which are fundamental elements for his evolution and blooming within today and
tomorrow's society.
The supporters are decorative attributes expressing
historical and social features of the municipality of Oka. The branches of white
pine with golden fruit ("cocottes") highlights the work accomplished by the
inhabitants of Oka, who, from 1886 to 1915, planted some 100,000 pines and firs
on the sandy mound standing north of the village. This plantation forms today
the beautiful pinewood**** that crowns the rear part of the village and
represents an ecological resource for the municipality. The peace pipe
represents the relations maintained by the Amerindians and the White for the
benefit of the two communities that have been living together in the region for
long.
http://www.municipalite.oka.qc.ca/armoiries/ - Municipal website
*The
yellow walleye (French, "doré jaune", lit. "yellow golden"; Latin, Sander
vitreus) is commonly found in big lakes and rivers of Canada and of the
northern part of the USA. The fish enjoys cool (13-21 °C), shallow (less than 15
m in depth) water.
http://www.mffp.gouv.qc.ca/faune/peche/poissons/dore-jaune.jsp - Full
description, Forêts, Faune et Parcs Québec
**The Oka Calvary, erected in
1740-1742, is inscribed in the Quebec Heritage List. The Calvary is made of
seven white chapels, four chapels were erected along a mountain trail
representing the Way of the Cross, while another three were erected on the top
of the hill.
http://www.patrimoine-culturel.gouv.qc.ca/rpcq/detail.do?methode=consulter&id=93537&type=bien
- Répertoire du patrimoine du Québec
***Lac des Deux Montagnes (c. 150
sq. km) is formed by Rivière des Outaouais. On his map drawn in 1612, the
explorer Samuel de Champlain named it lac de Médicis, as a tribute to Regent
Marie de Médicis (1573-1642), Henri IV's widow. On his next map, drawn in 1632,
Champlain renamed the lake to Lac de Soissons, as a tribute to Charles de
Bourbon (1566-1612), Count of Soissons and Lieutenant General of Nouvelle-France
(1612)., who had appointed Champlain as his official representative in the
colony. The lake appears under the name Lac des Deux-Montagnes on the map drawn
by Franquelin in 1684, but the name must have been coined earlier, since the
Jesuit father Antoine Dalmas used it in the report of an exploration made in
1674. The exact location of the two mountains alluded in the name of the lake is
a matter of conjecture. Some say that the two mountains are the two highest of
the Oka hills, mont Bleu and Calvaire, while other believe that the two
mountains are the Oka hills as a whole and Mont Rigaud, located across the lake.
http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/ct/ToposWeb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=18207 -
Commission de toponylie Québec
****At the time, the village was nearly
totally surrounded by a sand dune of 30-40 m in height, resulting from massive
deforestation. In 1886, big rains caused the partial collapsing of the dune and
sand reached the northernmost house of the village. Father Lefebvre, Superior of
the mission, organized the reforestation of the dune. Today's pinewood, composed
of c. 50,000 trees, is the oldest planted forest in North America.
http://la15nord.com/les-archives/5820-comment-fut-cree-la-pinede-doka - Le
Quinze Nord, 27 January 2010
*****The main "disagreement' was the Oka
Crisis, which broke out in summer 1990. Mohawk natives were transferred in the
18th century from the Montreal Island to the domain of Lac des Deux Montagnes
but they were never granted property rights. In 1840, the Sulpicians started to
sell plots to European colonists, so that the Mohawk territory decreased and
became extremely parcelled out. In the municipality of Oka, the Mohawk reserve
of Kanesatake covered in 1990 some 828 ha, including 20 totally enclosed plots.
Most plots, acquired by the federal government, had the status of Crown lands,
thus property rights were still denied to the Mohawk.
A proposal of
increasing the Oka golf course and building 60 houses on a plot claimed by the
Mohawk caused the outbreak of the Oka crisis. On 11 March 1990, the Mohawk
erected a symbolic barrier on the road heading to the gold course, subsequently
transformed in a barricade preventing access to the road. On 11 July, the
assault of the barricade by the Sûreté du Québec tuned into a shooting battle,
during which Caporal Marcel Lemay was killed. The Mohawk erected another
barricade on road No. 344. A few days later, Mohawk from the neighbouring
Kahnawake reserve (Châteaugay) blocked the access to the Mercier bridge, used
every day by 70,000 cars heading to Montreal. Four out of the five barricades
were suppressed on 31 August and the bridge was eventually reopened to traffic
on 6 September. The siege of Oka ended after 78 days and the surrender - and
arrest - of dozens of Mohawk Warriors.
In the aftermath of the crisis, the
federal government acquired the claimed plots to increase the Kanesatake
reserve, which is still Crown land. The issue of the territorial limits of the
reserve is still unresolved, since the maps produced by the federal government
and the municipality of Oka are not strictly identical.
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/729265/crise-oka-carte-comprendre -
Radio Canada, 10 July 2015
Ivan Sache, 17 April 2017