Letter to the Editor

September 25, 2017. Today I was able to speak to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne about the residential school issue, a terrible chapter in Canadian history, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited in his speech to the UN last week and for that I give him credit. Those of us who are still living, the survivors of that experience, want to make a gift to the Mohawk people, the young people now in school and to all Canadians. We are proposing to use a part of the funds set aside by Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne to construct on Mohawk territory a national Residential School Education Centre which will include an archives, healing lodge and museum. The Center will include interactive displays on the residential schools and personal testimonies from us. It will also serve as a museum and cultural center for the Mohawk people. We are seeking a meeting with Premier Wynne to put this plan into place. It will be our legacy to Canada, to those Native nations whose children were confined to the schools and to those yet unborn that they may learn from us. As we informed the MCA: nothing for us without us. We had former residential school students in attendance along with their families and the counsel of Della Adams and Eddie Gray, traditional healers. Niawen:kowa to all!

Doug George - Kanentiio