STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
Our strength
Almost all Indigenous people have a deeply rooted spirituality that is the basis of how we see things in this world. It’s that mentality that has helped us to survive horrendous stuff in these last 500 years.
We are no longer sovereign
So, we really need to understand to what degree we are colonized. And we need to begin the process of decolonizing ourselves. And that requires us to go back to step 1. Step one is the spiritual realm where we all come from.
Princess White Deer
Esther travelled the world with her uncles. There were three of them, three brothers: James, John, and George. James was her father and John was my grandfather. George didn’t have any kids. They also had a sister.
Powwow scene
I turned around, and it was Pierce Brosnan. I took a deep breath and said, 'Relax. He's just a person like everybody else.' I said, 'It looks pretty good. I thought you were going to be in that scene. How come you're out here?’
Protestant and catholic
My mother went to catholic school, but she did not want the nuns to teach us, so she sent us to protestant school. Protestant school was like today's public school. My cousin and I were the same age and lived in the same neighborhood, so we walked to school together. She was going to the catholic school and I was attending the protestant one. One time, she crossed the street and told me that she could not walk with me because I was protestant.
Ground ivy
This was the first time I felt a true connection with plant medicine. The plant heard what I was thinking and was ready to help. It made the cultural teachings more real: 'All our relations.'
Given to me
there are some students from the school that will come, sit, listen and write down the words they need translated. Sometimes there's three or four of them sitting there and they’re writing down questions to ask and I help them as best as I can.
Cherished language
My language has become a source of help and connection for me. I often get invited to speak with people, like that teacher up in Oneida who was teaching Mohawk. He had a few words he and others wanted to understand better and pronounce correctly.
Four Guys and Two Canoes
When we stopped that first night, it was at a field’s edge. We had some overnight stuff in plastic garbage bags, and we brought the canoes on land, turned them over and with the angle of it on its side, it protected our heads. We would have half our bodies inside the canoe with our feet sticking out, just lying on the ground with some blankets.
Life in the big garden
We would also help with planting and harvesting. When you plant tomatoes and they get big, there are these large kinds of green caterpillars that get on them and eat the leaves. They’d be hiding under the leaf or whatever. We’d have to pick them off the tomatoes. That was scary.
Kanenhstatonhkó:wa
Now that guy, Jimmy Carter, came down from France. I know his real name is Jacques Cartier, but I like to see people's puzzled faces when I call him Jimmy Carter.
Ohsia’á:ka
The Iroquois, confused as to why these people were extending their hands out to them, identified the French settlers as “Ohsia’á:ka,” or in English, “People of the palm.” For the few days after Jacques Cartier was there, the Iroquois kept mumbling ohsia’á:ka.
Safeguarding our heritage
I believe it's crucial for us to come together and engage in meaningful dialogue. Upholding the principles of the Two Row Wampum is very important: it's about honouring our shared culture and understanding.
Upholding traditions
Families would prepare lunches to bring to the grounds. Everyone looked forward to the picnic; it was special. It was a good feeling to see everyone gathered. Eventually, it became one of our traditions.
Big problem in Manhattan
My son and I had a talk on the way home that day about the sand running out of your hourglass. That event really drove home that you should never take life for granted because you just never know what can happen.
Forcibly removed
The people of Kanehsatà:ke were brutalized by the Seminary of St. Sulpice. The sulpicians were a society of priests from France, rich blue bloods filled with evil and greed. They were so rich that they could hire their own security forces to go in to violate and harass our people. Their goal was to get our people to leave our land.
The baddest boy
Once when I was younger I was playing hockey every day after school and asked my father, “Baba, can you buy me new skates?” He said, “Just keep on doing what you’re doing, going to get the milk on the farm, going to get the water, and maybe one day you’ll get it.”
Sound like my ancestors
After fourth grade they made a new school called Salmon River school. All of a sudden we’re going to school there now. We didn’t know that white kids were going to be there, we never went to school with white kids before.
Tioweró:ton
In the fall, we would go up to hunt. At night, the hunters would come down and tell us they got a moose, and the men would head up to help. It was a lot of work. We would cut the moose into pieces so that each man can carry a piece of the moose out of the bush. I was always excited to go because those who helped would get moose meat and have a party or celebration after we were done.
Life on the farm
We grew food that would be used for our survival. In the mornings we would go out and clean the barn, get eggs and those types of things, then head back to the house for breakfast. We were not rich but we were never hungry. In our crawl space, we had everything we needed like potatoes, carrots, and turnips.