A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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By Kaniehtonkie This May, billions of cicadas are expected to emerge from the ground. These are "periodical cicadas", part of a cohort who lay their eggs 17 years ago. This "Brood X" cohort is expected to come out in force this summer in eastern United States, New York State is not one of them. When a brood does emerge in New York State, they appear in the Onondaga Nation, carrying with them a story of perseverance and survival. It's a story passed down over many generations, dating back to the...
By Kaniehtonkie About a year into the global pandemic, as the worldwide death toll exceeds a dizzying 2.3 million and nearly half a million in the United States alone - hope has arrived in the form of multiple vaccines created in record time that have shown impressive success in preventing COVID-19. With the number of vaccinated individuals growing daily, many wonder: What previously risky activities are now safer with a vaccine? This is what the experts say about how to calculate the risks of some common activities after you’ve been vaccinated...
By Kaniethonkie A young mother of six was released from a Saskatchewan women’s prison on January 20th only to be found frozen in a residential area of Saskatoon. The death of Kimberly Squirrel, 34-years-old and member of the Yellow Quill First Nation could have been alive today if her family had been told she was being released from prison. The Yellow Quill First Nation is about 250 kilometers east of Saskatoon. Kimberly’s sister Kara Squirrel told CBC, “She was like my best friend ... I should have been the first person to get notified becau...
By Kaniehtonkie Court documents allege more than 270 kilograms of Canadian-grown marijuana hidden in the floorboards of the three trailers headed for Florida was intercepted. The convoy of pickup trucks with trailers was pulled over near Lake Placid on Hwy 87 south on February 5, 2021. The bust was part of a multi-agency operation that included cellphone wiretaps and surveillance and headed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Surveillance included the tracking of boats crossing th...
By Kaniehtonkie The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe held their monthly meeting virtually, which meant for a long, time consuming time frame. Even without any major technical glitches, the meeting presented itself at over 2 hours and 50 seconds. A considerable amount of time was spent on community members asking questions in regard to SRMT/Tewathahonni Corporation are taking steps to terminate their agreement with MMJ BioPharma Cultivation Inc. On January 29, 2021, the SRMT had notified MMJ BioPhamra of their intent to terminate the lease, since then t...
By Kaniehtonkie’ ‘Pretendian’, a label for a person who dishonestly claims to be of Native American, First Nation, Indigenous ancestry. Or were they deceiving and intentional? In the recent wake of Michelle Latimer’s identity crisis, First Nation filmmakers in Canada are pushing for new legislation to penalize people who falsely claim a heritage not their own. Latimer was the writer and director of the successful, but now canceled series, ‘Trickster’. In December, Ka’nhehsí:io Deer and Jorge Barrera wrote an investigative article for CB...
By Kaniehtonkie Two rich, white people charted a private plane and flew to a remote area of the Yukon to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Breaking all COVID-19 travel protocols in their travels, they received the vaccine in the small community of Beaver Creek. Beaver Creek has a population of about 100 people. One hundred First Nation peoples. The couple received the same COVID-19 vaccine meant for Beaver Creek elders. The White River First Nation (WRFN) is a First Nation in the western Yukon Territory in Canada. WRFN is home to the Upper Tanana,...
By Kaniehtonkie Akwesasronon artists, Tania Clute is part of a growing trend to illuminate the 2020 pandemic experience in Haudenosaunee artistic form. Clute, representing Two House Design-Crafters was featured CTV News Channel live after Minister of Indigenous Affairs Marc Miller was seen wearing a face mask created, designed and beaded by Clute for a national press conference. Miller stated on his Facebook page, "This mask is called Karonhianó:ron (Precious Sky) and is a contemporary example...
By Kaniehtonkie Canada became the third country to authorize the Pfizer Inc. Covid-19 vaccine. This vaccine is produced by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE. Canada will begin its immunization rollout as early as next week, with trial runs and delivery already taking place. Canada became the third county to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine, behind the U.K, and Bahrain. In Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issued its preliminary guidance on the COVID vaccine in November. ‘NACI makes recommendations for the use of vaccines c...
By Kaniehtonkie Several Mohawk Council of Akwesasne District Chiefs have organized 'Community Care Packages for residents in the northern portion of Akwesasne. In a post on MCA Facebook it stated, "We wanted to acknowledge that dealing with the pandemic and practicing all of the necessary precautions has been, and still continues to be, challenging for all of us. We also understand that we needed to reach our entire community at once." We are all in this together Everyone can help reduce our...
By Kaniehtonkie Oregon has become the first state in the nation to decriminalize the possession and personal use of all drugs. Voters in the state of Oregon approved Measure 110, this initiative also expands access to addiction assistance and other health services, offering aid to those who need it instead of arresting and jailing people for drugs. Oregon voters passed Measure 110 with 55.8% of the vote. Possession of drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine will no longer be punishable by jail time, instead amount to something...
by Kaniehtonkie It's been over 100 days since Six Nations members have demonstrated against the McKenzie Meadows development by Foxgate near Caledonia, Ont. This land dispute is over 200 years old. The McKenzie Meadows was renamed '1492 Land Back Lane' by members of Six Nations of the Grand River, setting up camp back in July. The property is part of the original Haldimand Tract granted to Six Nations of the Grand River in 1784 for allying with the British during the American Revolution. The lan...
By Kaniehtonkie One might think the title, ‘twenty-five years without safe drinking water’ is about a third world country, in a land far off that is rarely spoken of or visited. About people whom you have never heard of, struggling to survive without something so basic, and so necessary to life. Located about six-hours north of Thunder Bay, the Neskantaga First Nation (NFN), has been 25 years without safe drinking water, and now has no running water at all. NFN is a community of about 300 people but now there are less than twenty residents lef...
By Kaniehtonkie On Tuesday, October 13 a lobster pound in Middle West Pubnico, Nova Scotia, utilized by the Mi'kmaq fishermen was swarmed, vandalized and ransacked by a large crowd of non-Indigenous commercial fishers and their supporters. Windows were smashed, two vehicles damaged and eventually some Mi'kmaqs were forced to take cover inside. On Wednesday, October 16 as tensions rose between the commercial fishermen and Sipekne'katik First Nation (SFN) lobster fishermen, women and supporters,...
By Kaniehtonkie Clocks are typically adjusted one hour ahead in early March and fall back an hour in November. This year the clocks are set to change on November 1. An MPP from Nepean has a bill in Ontario legislation that will change all of that. Bill 214, the Time Amendment Act, has already seen a second reading and sent to Committee. If passed, Bill 214 will enable the Attorney General to end the bi-annual clock changes and move Ontario permanently to daylight time. According to MPP Jeremy Roberts, academic studies from across the world...
By Kaniehtonkie According to Audrey Roy Cloutier, a spokesperson for the Directeur aux poursuites criminelles et pénales, the provincial prosecutor’s office in Montreal, Gary Arnold, 54, of Hinchinbrooke, is the latest person to be charged in international kidnapping of an elderly Moira, NY couple. Arnold is facing the same seven charges including kidnapping, forcible confinement, extortion and conspiracy as five other men arrested in Quebec in the September 27 kidnapping of James and Sandra Helm. Arnold was arrested Thursday evening after bein...
By Kaniehtonkie Three days after Joyce Echaquan laid on her deathbed calling for help while being bombarded with racist and condescending remarks, the Government of Québec released the findings from a Public Inquiry Commission on relations between Indigenous People and public services including health care and youth protection agencies, the correctional system, justice and police over the last 15 years. The commission was given a broad mandate to look into the treatment of First Nations and Inuit people in Quebec. The inquiry was launched in...
By Kanietonkie Combining the efforts of the FBI, Sureté du Quebec, RCMP, the NYSP and the Akwesasne Mohawk Police, the missing couple was found late Tuesday afternoon in Magog, Quebec. Five individuals were arrested. The five suspects ages range from 36 to 75 years old. Four are still held under arrest and will appear in court on Wednesday afternoon. One individual was released and is still under investigation. Two of the individuals arrested are from Akwesasne. Indian Time spoke with Sureté d...
By Kanietonkie Joyce Echaquan, 37 years old and a mother of seven children died in a Joilette, Quebec hospital on Monday, September 28, 2020. Her death was recorded on her cell phone. While Echaquan called out for husband, Carol Dube to help her, the recording shows hospital medical staff saying condescending, racist remarks while Echaquan pleaded for help. Reaction to her death has been swift with the Quebec’s coroner’s office investigating the circumstances surrounding her death and local Joliette health authority probing what happened ins...
By Kaniehtonkie Indian Time was informed of a class action suit against Mohawk Council of Akwesasne. Roger Thompson, Kawehno:ke is named as the plaintiff. The class action suit was filed in the Registries of the Federal Courts on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. According to the Statement of Claim, “The Plaintiff claims on behalf of himself and the other members of the Proposed Class… a declaration that the Defendant was, and continues to be systematically negligent in the oversight, operation, training, supervision, control, maintenance and sup...
By Kaniehtonkie Donald Trump continues his assault on minorities, not only by his divisive and barely hidden racist rhetorical rallies, but through his executive orders. In a series of ‘presidential executive orders’ signed by Trump in early September, he instructed federal agencies to end racial sensitivity trainings that address topics like white privilege and critical race theory, calling them “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” The directive was issued against the backdrop of the ongoing national conversation around police brutali...
By Kaniehtonkie Michael Terrance made history on Tuesday, August 11, 2020 when he was sworn in as Ironworkers Local 33 president. Hailing from a long line of ironworkers Terrance took his oath under the watchful eye of his father Kenny Terrance and James Dean, Terrance's first apprentice teacher and former Local 33 president. Michael has been a union member for the past thirty-three years. He has worked alongside his father Kenny and his uncles, Eddie, Pat, Ronnie, Ray, Jack and several nephews...
By Kaniehtonkie Schools across New York and Ontario will reopen for in-person instruction this fall. Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced their respective schools will reopen during the coronavirus pandemic. New York is one of the few states in America that has a virus transmission rate low enough to bring children back into classrooms and not only in its rural communities, but also in the country’s biggest city. Premier Doug Ford set his school goals on, “Elementary schools will reopen with conventional in-person delivery of teaching and ins...
By Kaniehtonkie Mohawk Council of Akwesasne had their first meeting since January 2020. The meeting took place on ‘Zoom” the online meeting platform. Grand Chief Abram Benedict opened the meeting with a ‘Call to Order’ and with all Council members in attendance. The last ‘in person’ General Meeting was held on January 23, 2020 and February’s meeting was cancelled due to inclement weather. The General Meeting ran as usual with the following agenda; Call To Order, Council Agenda Acceptance, Rules of Order, Follow up February 27 General Meeting It...
By Kaniehtonkie Found in the back of a huge warehouse, two technicians carefully select glochidia for propagating bivalves. Sounds like something out of a science fiction movie. It isn't, it's Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe's (SRMT) Environment Division technicians trying to save naturally occurring mussels in our waterways. In fact, the SRMT is probably the only tribe to propagate freshwater mussels and likely the first in New York State to successfully rear surviving juvenile mussels for in-river...
