Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor:

My dear community of Akwesasne,

This has been a time of tremendous loss in our community. We have lost so many people to illness, particularly cancer. We have lost our youth to suicide, accidents and the prison system. We have lost our feeling of safety in our community and our belief in each other. People keep telling me, “Well, that’s the way it is.”

That is not the way it has to be. I am asking each and every one of you to put our minds together as one to come up with vision for what we want our community to look like and then create a plan to get there. I’ve put together a plan for starting this process.

I pray that Akwesasne is a place where we value all in creation by respecting our bodies, minds and spirits first. Without good minds, we cannot make good decisions, have good relationships and live in a respectful and just manner. In order to do this, we must begin at the place in our history, where the destruction began. Therefore, I am asking all historians in Akwesasne to come together and share with the community on a monthly basis, the focus being on how history changed our relationships with one another. I would be happy to join this discussion to provide information on the impact on parenting, friendships and family relationships.

There are some people that I have met along my journey that I would like to bring to Akwesasne to share their knowledge about how our historical experiences are currently shaping our reality. Would social services or mental health pay to bring the speakers here? They are:

Dr. Jack Shonkoff, who specializes in early childhood development. He is well known for his groundbreaking research on Neurons to Neighborhoods.

Dr. James Garbarino, who specializes in the impact of trauma and civil unrest on youth and adolescents. His work focuses on bullying and raising children in socially toxic environments.

Dr. Jeffrey Young, who has developed techniques for helping people understand what they do and provides a framework for changing behaviours that aren’t helpful.

I feel that we need to know what is happening in our community now, as well. So many people have shared with me that they have experienced violence, but the community doesn’t know. We, as a community need to know what is going on so that we can work together to address it. I am asking that the police, ambulance, fire department, social services and health services provide weekly statistics to the community on the number of violent acts, which include: domestic violence, elder abuse, assault, self harm, child abuse, rape, endangerment, hate crimes and drug related crime. We have a right to know. We also have a right to know what you as service providers are doing to help keep our community safe. Are those statistics available as well? For example, if there are three assaults one week, are we going to see three arrests the next?

It is our shared responsibility. One thing that we can do is protect our children. We can change our words. So often I hear parents call down their children, then buy them something to make up for it. Can we commit to using only kind words? No put downs. No teasing. No regrets. Then, there will be no need to buy. Can we commit to protecting our children from dog bites and allow them to play without worry of attack? Can we commit to playing with them instead of pawning them off on the TV or video games? Playing is so good for parents too. A great stress reliever! Would people be willing to share the good things that they are doing to make a difference? Would the newspaper be willing to print the articles? We can all learn from each other. We could include things we do for mother earth, things we do for each other or things we do for ourselves.

Every single person and organization in our community has a role and responsibility in making Akwesasne the best place to live a healthy life, raise our families and work.

For the health of our bodies, we can commit to eating well and being active. Protecting our environment is also protecting our own bodies. Burning trash and dumping hurts all of us in terms of putting chemicals and toxins into the air, ground and water. Using pesticides also causes harm, especially to our children and pets. We need to remember who we are and that our health is connected to the health of mother earth.

For my part, I will provide free monthly workshops. The date, time and place will be announced, once I find a location. I am also here for you to share ideas with, or organize gatherings. We can do this together. Message me on Facebook, or you can call my business number at 613 686-3731.

In the spirit of peace and love, Alison Kiawenniserathe Benedict MSW