Inaugural "Day of Peace" Forum Held at Tsionkwanatiio

By: Jaclyn Hall

September 21st has been designated as the International Day of Peace. This day was established by the United Nations and devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among nations and peoples.  Although September 21st has been designated as a day of peace around the world, it had not made its way into Akwesasne until one young man, Kirby Jock decided to make that change. 

Kirby Jock approached each council in Akwesasne with the idea for each to accept the Day of Peace as a passed resolution. To celebrate the milestone, it was fitting to create the Day of Peace Forum which was held at Tsionkwanatiio on Friday, September 21, 2018.

Representatives from all councils attended the Day of Peace Forum to share their thoughts on peace and what an integral part it is to the Haudenosaunee. 

Kirby Jock stated, "I met with all the councils in Akwesasne, and proposed the designation of September 21st being the Day of Peace. Each Council recognized the day, and the value of 'skennen'. All councils were represented this morning. The weather was not in our favor this morning, but as soon as we planted the white pine tree, the sun came out. We had to weather the storm, and threw all our negative thoughts in the ground as we planted the tree before the sun would come out. I do hope to have a forum every year on September 21st. Hopefully the more people hear about it, the more people will come to share their knowledge and words of healing. 

The Day of Peace Forum consisted of different activities, all pertaining to Skennen (peace). The morning began with an open forum, discussing what 'Peace' means to one another, the white pine tree was planted with a representative from each council. Everyone was served corn soup, fry bread and strawberry drink for lunch before finishing off the day with more speakers. If you were not able to attend this year's Day of Peace Forum, keep an eye out when September 21st rolls around again.

The message of Skennen is one everyone can benefit from hearing. Some think of Skennen/Peace in different ways. Thinking that peace is just something outside of ourselves, according to some speakers, is making a huge mistake; 'how can we have peace in the world, if we do not have peace within ourselves'. Other addressed how Akwesasne needs a lot of healing from the past, but the Day of Peace Forum is something that can address the disunity within Akwesasne and how we have been living with it for some time now. Once we being to work on having peace within ourselves, we can begin to have unity within our community again. 

It was definitely a beautiful thing to see everyone put their pride and hurt aside and come together as one, and speak their truth about what peace means to them.