STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
A comforting feeling
Church was just something you did. It was part of your week, and we always felt good about it. I remember our family had our pew where we always sat.
Learning on the job
The people that I worked with helped me. If I couldn’t say the word and if they could, they’d tell me how to say it. I received my education right there with those workers.
Shovel or pencil
My father told me, he said, “You want to quit school, then you’ve got to get to work. I don't want to see you walking on the streets in a year. Either pick up a shovel and work, or pick up a pencil and go to school.
Made it work
We made it work and would come back from Detroit for Christmas and summertime. But it got to a point that there were a lot of guys from town who would come back every weekend, right from work.
Union local 25
My father was in the business here in Montreal and he knew the ironwork business agents and people in the industry. So, I asked him to get me in instead.
Foundation of our strength
The impacts of the colonial genocidal project have created divisions and dysfunction within our communities. Centuries of hurt and trauma take time and often the oppression turns within, causing the divisions. In order to create reconciliation within ourselves, Indigenous people must understand their past, their stories of survival and life.
Inhabiting the land
When the Sulpicians came to Kanehsatà:ke, they claimed that there was nobody here. As time went by, people started moving away from the village of Kanehsatà:ke to the bay area, where most of our people are now.
Lost their homes
It’s always a sore point with Mohawks when talking about the Sulpicians, especially to the elders who remember their parents going through those hard times. The Sulpicians decided they wanted to remove the Mohawks from Kanesatà:ke.
Raised holy stink
Some kids would go away for school and would come back and couldn’t be part of the community because they don’t speak Indian. It was a mess. So, we continued to raise holy stink. These were the grandchildren of the people that were in residential school, where the language was just plain taken away from them.
Go on for miles
We had a few horses, a few cows, some chickens, and pigs. In the fall just before Christmas, they would butcher a pig and a chicken for a big supper.
Where I feel at home
The Pines or Onen’tó:kon, has always been a sacred place and one of refuge for the generations of my grandparents who sought peace in the Pines when the Sulpicians were harassing and brutalizing the people. They wanted us all to leave for Wáhta, but in the end, we have won because we are still here and we’re not going anywhere.
detach with love
I would have a lot of quiet talks with my mother on her back deck by the pool. My birth mother helped me a lot. She told me my father’s name and helped my children and I get status. I remember we went to some office, she spoke Mohawk for about five minutes, and within a month I had my status.
The only thing Indian was the students
My grandparents raised all six of us. I was six months old when my father passed away. I was told that the Indian Agency came into the house here and tried to take my brothers away. My grandparents told them to leave. If they would have succeeded, maybe today I wouldn’t have any nieces or nephews around. Who knows what would’ve happened.
Best driver
Some said I was the best driver, but I never put myself out there saying I’m the best, better than my friends. I firmly believe that the best one is the Creator, not the one who boasts about it.
You’ll never hear me shooting my mouth off, claiming that I’m better than anyone else.
I could drive anything
I quit driving trucks because I was fed up with it. From there, I transitioned to school bus driving. I did that for 17 years. That’s where I took my pension, in 2008. I said to myself, I think it’s about time.
Religion divided us
I started going to high school in Lachine in 1959. In those days Chateauguay practically didn’t exist. We all shopped in Lachine, went to school in Lachine. We hung out over there and knew all the places.
We used to take those fancy coach buses with the high seats because we didn’t have school buses from Kahnawake yet. We felt so high class.
Still Kanien’kehá:ka
It was very confusing, but through teachings I’ve learned that I am a sacred being, Creator recognizes me, and I can be accepted in both realms. Once I came to that realization, the thundercloud was no longer threatening.
Adopted during the Sixties Scoop
I have vivid memories of being a toddler in foster care. I was originally adopted by a family, but then was sent back to foster care until my adoptive mother, Pauline adopted me. My mom was a single, non-Indigenous women, yet she had Ojibwe ancestry from Walpole Island through her grandmother.