Camp Gabriels: A Historic Opportunity for the Mohawk People

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 mechanics shops.  Most of the buildings are in move-in condition although some of the older structures require renovation and repair.

The grounds are located on Route 86, the main highway between Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Montreal.  It is ideally situated to serve as a cultural centre, museum, conference location, sports facility, rites of passage centre and summer camp for Iroquois children.

The Hiawatha Institute for Indigenous Knowledge, a non-profit entity, has made formal presentations to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne and the St. Regis Tribal Council to secure the Camp to be converted into an educational facility which would become a primary location for the preservation of Iroquois knowledge and a teaching school where language, the arts, Native language and other instances of our ancestral knowledge may be taught.

The Camp would provide Iroquois parents with a place for their children to learn woodcraft, culture and language during the summer.  It would serve as a meeting place for conferences and a four season wilderness training camp for Native teenagers. It would also host a sports camp for the Iroquois Nationals to teach lacrosse.

Our great teacher Ray Fadden, among many others, dreamed of a place where Iroquois children could gather in one place and learn those skills, which would make them stronger Onkwehonwe. Camp Gabriels offers this possibility.

Millions of dollars from Akwesasne are siphoned off to non-Native entities for consultation, economic development, education and plain tribute.  None of that money is making the children healthier or strengthens their sense of identity as Natives.  None of the money siphoned off to Cornwall, Massena or Malone enhances our standing as a people, as a nation.

Camp Gabriels can make us the people we were meant to be. It can partially fulfill Ray Fadden’s dream and provide us with a greater sense of well being.  It can make us stronger spiritually while generating millions of dollars in tourism and tuition.

The Hiawatha Institute made history when, last October, it secured the return of the sacred land at Kahon:ios (Cohoes Falls) where Skennenrahowi established the Mohawk Nation.  This was the first time when a part of our original homeland was returned to us without litigation or resentment.

Now the Institute stands ready to work in partnership with the Mohawk leadership and the Mohawk people to create a central learning facility which will become a source of pride and income for all Iroquois.

The Institute has conducted an on-site survey and has been in consultation with officials within the State’s Office of General Services which oversees the Camp. Contrary to rumor that the Camp is in great condition and is being offered at an historically low price.

It is, however, up to the Mohawks at Akwesasne to take advantage of this opportunity by setting aside their resources and buy the Camp which can then be tendered to the Hiawatha Institute for conversion into a central place of learning. And we must take advantage of every opportunity to have our ancestral lands returned to us whenever and wherever that may be.

Let us hope we still have the will and the imagination to do so.