STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
If you don't use it, you can lose it
I’ve helped write a lot of books. I helped with the typing but it would take so long because the language is not like English. There are only 11 letters in our language but there are so many accents. Language groups in several Mohawk communities have used those books we made.
Black and blue
Ti-bert used to dream out loud in Mi'kmaq, which they called the devil’s language. And if you spoke in Mi'kmaq, or even in English, you got beaten. Every night Ti-bert would miss his grandmother and would dream about her. So of course, he spoke in his sleep in his language because his grandmother didn’t speak French or English.
Don’t back down
In the winter, we had to walk for miles and cross on the ice. I wouldn’t go to school in the spring when the ice wasn’t safe or in the fall when the ice was coming in. Just when I could row the boat or walk on the ice.
Inclination to share
I wish everybody would think the way I do; embracing the idea of helping one another and not holding back their knowledge. It’s crucial because when we pass away, all that wisdom disappears with us. There are few of us left from my generation and we are dwindling, especially in recent times as we lose more friends one by one.
Stay and listen
My cousins Susan, Shirley and Doreen had left our community to work in Montreal. When they returned, something had changed. They couldn't speak our Mohawk language anymore. It saddened me to see them speak English all the time. For me, regardless of where I am, I will always talk in my Native language.
No written history
I was living in Detroit for a while. In Michigan, there's so many different nations there. They’re scattered around, very small, different dialects, and are disappearing now.
There’s so many words missing now that were lost.
Proper indian
I grew up speaking Mohawk, until English came in. My older sisters were learning it in school, so they started to use English in the house.
Little by little, you pick it up and when I went to school, it was every day. The older people back then couldn’t communicate in English or any other language, strictly Mohawk.
Not that fluent
I think that I’m fluent in Mohawk but I’m not that fluent. I think about that often. I could say carrots, onions, and beans but as for other veggies or fruits, I have no idea. I don’t know why. It’s very important to teach children all the veggies because they need to learn that when they’re very young.
Don’t forget your language
On this whole street, the language was all that was spoken. So in the house, we only spoke the language. That was until we started Kateri Indian Day School.
Porch stories
When I was growing up, the families were much closer than they are today. They were closer because of the shared language and also because of the storytelling.
Mohawk language in the schools
The summer following my first year teaching in 1973, five of us enrolled in the Teacher Training Program offered by the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. That fall I got a job at Kateri School teaching grades 1, 2, and 3.
Our spirituality
There is so much to be taught and there is so much to bring back. I think a lot of it has to do with our spirituality and understanding life. It isn’t life affecting you, it is you affecting life.
Mohawk names
Growing up, we only used the Mohawk language so when I started going to Kateri School in Kahnawake, I only knew maybe half a dozen words of English. So I had a hard time.
The kind of work I do
My last iron job was in 2004 in Sorel. That was when I was having problems with my lower hernia. I had to have surgery.
A little bit of trouble
Most of the children in immersion came from English speaking families, and there were people out there with second language, but few. So, we had to be very strict in the school, that it was total immersion.
TV and radio
When I came into the world in 1957, Kahnawake had already gone through a lot of changes compared to my mom’s time. Back then, everybody spoke Mohawk.
It’s all in your language
If you hear things in our language, and you wonder, “Why do we say this?” The language teaches you. It’s got your history. It tells your present day, and will tell you tomorrow.