A Voice from the Eastern Door
A Voice from the Eastern Door
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By Isaac White As I sit down to pen this piece, it's with a heavy heart that I share the critical state of the Indian Time Newspaper, a cornerstone of our Akwesasne community. For over 42 years, we've stood as a beacon of news, culture, and voice for our people, a testament to the strength and resilience of our community. But today, we face an existential threat, not from external forces, but from an internal crisis of sustainability. Despite the herculean efforts of a devoted part-time staff, our newspaper is teetering on the brink of closure... Full story
By: Jaclyn Hall We are over two months into this pandemic, and while banners are being hung and billboards showcase the graduating classes of 2020, let's not forgot about the little unsung heroes of Akwesasne. All of Akwesasne's youth, from babies to young adults, have been impacted by this isolation period, and they deserve as much praise as their older counterparts. It appears we have reached a sort of calm during the storm, and families have adjusted to the new normal in their own unique...
By: Jaclyn Hall As multiple provinces and states begin reopening sectors of the economy, Akwesasronon wonder if the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe will follow suit? Although the reopening of Ontario, Quebec and New York State all have their different approaches, how will Akwesasronon decide on the best course of action to take? Will we work as one Akwesasne or will we allow MCA and SRMT to separately follow the provincial and state guidelines? Since the beginning of...
By: Jaclyn Hall It seems as though the majority of Akwesasronon are getting back to the land, with the encouragement of multiple organizations who have been distributing free seeds, saplings, seedlings and supplies to create raised bed gardens. While it has become commonplace to see raised bed gardens all throughout Akwesasne, it seems as though many have forgotten why raised beds became a necessity in Akwesasne, and why it is an important part of our history. It was not so long ago when our...
By Jaclyn Hall In recent weeks, the people of Akwesasne have been in a constant state of grief. As the pandemic drags on through the spring, many struggle to support their loved ones throughout their different stages of grief. How are Akwesasronon adapting to loss during these times? Funeral homes announced new practices during this pandemic, limiting the amount of people allowed to attend funeral services. Every single person who has recently lost a loved one has been affected, regardless of...
By: Jaclyn Hall Home Birth or Hospital? That is a question weighing on expectant mothers' minds, as they approach their due dates during the COVID- 19 Pandemic As a mother of five children and having just delivered my youngest in October 2019 two months premature, it weighs on my mind how expectant mothers are coping during these times. I had originally planned on having a home birth but my son decided to come early, so for both our safety I had no choice but to attend the hospital. When I...
By: Jaclyn Hall The Kanieńkehá:ka Nation has been known throughout history as a fierce and strong nation. To any outsider looking in, this may seem true. But for those of us who are living inside the “boundaries” of Akwesasne, we see and feel differently. As much as we would like to keep things positive during this stressful and uncertain time, there is an issue that has arisen in Akwesasne and it needs to be addressed. We are now in our 5th week of a multinational shutdown. So, how has this multinational shutdown affected Akwesasne, a multinat...
By: Jaclyn Hall As much as we hold on to tradition and the old ways, times are changing rapidly. Here in Akwesasne, it is changing so fast, we are forced to become more self-sufficient and capable, but is that really a bad thing? When it comes to conducting our sacred ceremonies, feasts, funerals or any sort of celebration at Kanonsehsne (Longhouse); our people have chosen to put the well-being of our knowledge keepers above gathering at Kanonsehsne. With that, has come a newfound confidence in many young people, who were forced to learn how...
By Darren Bonaparte, Director of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe The June 7th grand opening of the new headquarters of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe - Ionkwakiohkwaró:ron (Gathering Place of the People) - was an enormous success. By one count, there were at least 500 people present to celebrate this historic event. The three-story monolith of stone, wood, metal and glass is a modern, architectural marvel that pays homage to the cultural landscape of the people working within. Moreover, it is the physical...
By: Jaclyn Hall Recently, more information has been shared regarding the Dundee/Tsikaristisere Settlement Agreement. I would like to thank Cactus Cook-Sunday for taking the time to read my article and provide more information. As a reporter I wrote an Editorial last week which included the statements of the two main applicants on the class action appeals. Going into the whole topic is not easy, and we try our best to share correct information, which is subject to our interpretation. When...
By: Jaclyn Hall Appeals regarding the Tsikaristisere/Dundee Claim Settlement Agreement Special Referendum Regulation were submitted within the timeframe allotted by the Akwesasne Courts. Appeals will be heard by the Akwesasne Court, which has its own regulations and laws. A $100 fee had to be paid for each individual appeal that was submitted. The $100 fee was discouraging for community members who were told they could appeal their votes once the Special Referendum came to a close. There have...
By Betty Lyons For those who know the Americas as the Great Turtle Island or Abya Yala, Daca is not an immigration crisis – it is a matter of simple human rights As we approach the 5 March date for expiration of the legal immigration status of so-called Dreamers – those who came to the US as children and now fall under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status, or Daca – we as citizens of the original Indigenous Nations of this continent have been watching closely. We have dealt with these issues ever since the first Europeans cross...
Submitted by Charles Kader (MASSENA) – A proposal to partner a new casino in St. Lawrence County with the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino Resort has been developed by a Massena resident, Thomas Gramuglia. Gramuglia, a property-owner in St. Lawrence County, hopes the plan has the potential to get Akwesasne residents and taxpayers in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties to work together in a mutually-beneficial agreement. The plan would see the former General Motors plant site located near the Massena Port of Entry being re-utilized in a Class 3 gaming p...
By Doug George-Kanentiio The origin of the rainbow in Iroquois cosmology is explained in the “Iroquois Creation Story” by the late John Mohawk-Satsisowah of the Seneca Nation. Mohawk edited a manuscript compiled by the Onondaga-Seneca Chief John Arthur Gibson and the Tuscarora ethnologist JNB Hewitt in 1899 and self published the completed work in 2005. In his edition Mohawk writes: “Our story holds that we have much that we should be happy about, and evidence of this great good fortune is the manifestation of the gifts of nature. But even...
The question of what to do with the Canadian Border Security Agency buildings on Kawehnohkowanen:ne need not be a complicated one to answer. Under Mohawk laws of possession, the CBSA was given a limited right of occupancy as long as that entity demonstrated care and consideration for the land. The Mohawk Nation held underlying title to any given section of territory within its ancestral boundaries with the people retaining the right to settle, develop and exchange land as long as the property was used in compliance with traditional law and...
In these days of rapid, often overwhelming change the need to be anchored in culture and community becomes critical. If one is to stand against these technological and social waves there must be ideas, rituals and beliefs which are so deeply rooted as to weather those forces which would otherwise leave us as transients without substance or meaning beyond the immediate. For the Mohawks we have been fortunate in having the essence of a common identity in place and over the past generation have taken steps to insure we continue as a people. We...
One of the most profound teachings of the Mohawk people is that we exist in a place and time within a universe which is responsive to who we are as human beings. We have been given the gift of life to know the world and the intelligence to understand why we live. We are essentially a happy people with enhanced abilities to create societies in which the expression of joy is pervasive. Only by adhering to the individual and collective rituals of thanksgiving are we liberated to realize the true potential of the human mind. There is no fear in...
John Chabot, former National Hockey League player and citizen of the Algonquin nation, has an idea whose time has come. He believes that the indigenous nations of North America have the talent to form a men’s hockey team capable of playing on the international level and by rights should be represented at the Olympic Games. Currently, the NHL has a number of Native players who could form the nucleus of such a team and would immediately prove to be highly competitive. Players like Corey Price of the Montreal Canadiens, Cody McCormick of the B...
1. The Washington DC area is the homeland of which native nations? 2. Which of the four major sports were invented by Native people? 3. Which football teams played the first game in which the forward pass was legal? 4. Who was the quarterback that invented the spiral pass? 5. Who was the first president of the National Football League? 6. Which pro football player also played professional baseball, was a two time Olympic gold medalist and the most feared running back of his time? 7. Which Native athlete was the true “greatest” of all time? 8....
In the fall of 1813 the war between Britain and the US was stumbling towards a stalemate. The Americans under US Secretary of War John Armstrong had developed a strategy to invade the provinces of Quebec and Ontario (Lower and Upper Canada) using a two-pronged attack from the south and southwest. Two armies, one encamped in Burlington, Vermont and the other at Sackets Harbor on Lake Ontario were to coordinate an assault again Montreal and thereby split the colonies in half and isolate the British-Canadian-Native forces in the west, cutting off...
In the fall of 1813 the Mohawks of Akwesasne were once again at the perilous position. Formal hostilities between Britain and the United States had resulted in war the previous year. Akwesasne was in a unique geographical location considered essential for the defense of Canada and, by the Americans, as vital to their planned invasions along the St. Lawrence River. On the territory itself factions resulted from divided loyalties, a remnant from the American Revolution. The pro-Americans were led by Louis Cook, a commissioned officer by General...
Four years ago New York State closed Camp Gabriels, a minimum-security compound operated by the state’s Department of Corrections. Originally a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients, later a part of the Paul Smiths College, the 91 acre site was recently renovated by New York until the reduction in the number of state inmates led to its closure. Among the many buildings are a chapel, gym, new dormitories, a new water and septic system, updated heating plant, cafeteria, administration office, health clinic, athletic fields, greenhouse and auto m...
She:kon sewakwe:kon Akwesas:ronon. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month and National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe joins these efforts by hosting the Child Safe Summit, a one-day conference for child welfare professionals and related community partners. The Summit is a collective effort to inform service providers of indicators and resources, and to dispel myths about child abuse. We will welcome Dr. Karyn Patno, the founder and clinical director of the Child Safe Program at Fletcher Allen. She...
By Doug George-Kanentiio Akwesasne Mohawk In the winter of 1977, I was a student from Akwesasne attending the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. I was planning to transfer back to the northeast and sought a school which I thought could serve as the basis for a radically new approach to aboriginal cultural preservation and the dissemination of indigenous knowledge, one which would become, in effect, a national Native university. After considering many schools from Cornell to Columbia, Colgate to Clarkson I believed (and still do) that...
Every composer or performer makes a choice as to the style and type of music by which they will be defined. For aboriginal artists it can be a difficult one as they balance culture and commercialism. What sells? And how to reach a market which is widely ignorant of indigenous musical styles and content? Some do make the deliberate choice to use contemporary technologies to compose songs which seek to put into music their experiences as Native artists and to become politically charged. As we know music is often the best, most powerful means of...
