Using That Which Is Ours

By Doug George-Kanentiio

One of the most striking things I noticed at the 2014 Akwesasne Powwow is the physical appearance of the thousands of Natives who were there as contestants, organizers, staff and as fans of this wonderful event. It is my observation as an individual who has visited places around the planet (China, Australia, Europe, Africa, Korea, Israel, India, Turkey and many other nations) that the aboriginal peoples of this hemisphere are the most intriguing and most attractive.

We know from our Creation story that anyone who has aboriginal DNA can trace their ancestry to the Sky People and we are Star children. Of this, there is no doubt as our most sacred stories make this very clear. We know our physical beings are composed of earth substance but that our souls, spirits and minds were given to us by the grandchild of Skywoman as the greatest of gifts and that when we discard the mortal body we will be liberated to follow the Star Path back to our original homeland in the Sky World.

While we have responsibilities on this earth and in this time to care for the planet and live in accordance with natural law the absolute definition of why we live can be traced to our origins in the stars. Should we fulfill our duties by caring for our children and leaving, as our legacy, the earth in a better condition than it was at our birth we will be assured of a harmonious return to the place of our ancestors where, it is said, we will experience a type of awareness which is far beyond anything in this world. Whatever love and happiness felt during our time here will be intensified and we will then understand why we were given life.

But we have duties to ourselves, our families and to the natural world during our lifetime here and now. Most sacred is the preservation of the world through the study and observation of other species and the adoption of rules of behaviour in which we dedicate ourselves to not only respecting the integrity and natural rights of other species but to abide by laws which require us to do so.

We are not here to achieve financial prosperity if this means we have to destroy the world around us. It does mean we need to reclaim lands lost to our possession because of the greed of those who colonized, developed and contaminated what had previously been a pristine land. For those who have had the benefit of listening to the stories of what Akwesasne looked like before the St. Lawrence Seaway and the heavy industries adjacent to our home territory you would have been told of times when the fish harvests were massive, our islands marked by sandy beaches, our water pure enough to drink and of such clarity as to rival any place in the Caribbean.

Hundreds of Mohawks chose to live on our islands rather than the mainland for the fertile soils, vegetable gardens and the thousands of fruit trees gave them an abundance of food supplemented by the healthy consumption of protein from sturgeon, walleye, salmon and eel.

Displacement began when our lands were stolen with the changes reflected in our physical selves. Look at photos of the Mohawks from four or five generations ago and now-the difference can be stunning.

All of this leads to one conclusion and that is if we are to regain our health, re-energize our language, re-vitalize a distinct Mohawk culture than the solution is obvious: we need more land. Not highly conditional “formal education” in which the Native is obliterated but real earth where we can plant seeds, raise crops, have orchards and restore grazing lands for cattle and buffalo (yes, the Mohawks did hunt woodland buffalo, now extinct, a subspecies of the plains bison who were found in open meadows from Ohio to Massachusetts).

We need to end the secretive “land claims negotiations” regarding the Nutfield Tract between Boundary Road and Glen Walter then north to Highway 417. This region has excellent potential for farming and residential expansion. There is the 22,000 acres Dundee Tract east of Akwesasne which also has room for large cultivation and space for new homes. Why not have a plan for resettlement in both areas and direct our councils to act accordingly?

We often cite the “seven generations” theory as one of the most central laws defining who the Iroquois are. With regards to the St. Lawrence islands west of Kawenoke, the Dundee section and the Nutfield area we have sufficient land right now without having to compromise anything to expand Akwesasne and provide for a fast growing population while creating an economy in which the basic food needs of the community are met and exceeded. We can create jobs which are consistent with our values through an industry based upon the production of food and the creation of a national distribution network grafted onto the former trade networks.

At the powwow I heard stories about the price gouging of Natives in the far north and the subsequent dietary problems of those who cannot afford to eat well. We can help resolve this by making use of what is already ours in law and history for the mutual benefit of all Natives. Commercial gambling, tobacco, gasoline stations and fast food stores may do well in the short term but they don’t produce anything and the basis for any stable national economy is the actual making and marketing of something of substance and ongoing need.

We have the land and the intelligence to create a firm economic foundation for the Mohawk people and it begins not with closed door discussions but with an open debate as to how to make best use of what is already ours.