STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
Head Veteran
I am proud to be a Mohawk Veteran; I take the responsibility with much pride and bring the knowledge I carry from my 21 years of service into the powwow circle for the benefit of our people.
Baie-Comeau
In 1989, I was working in Baie-Comeau, still for Dominion Bridge. But now I'm not cleaning machines, I’m doing ironwork. There’s a small Innu community there, and one day we got rained out or something, so we were off work.
A connection to the past
It’s almost like a hint to go and fire up the woodstove. We have a dryer, but I say why use the dryer? You fire up that wood stove, and it dries all of our clothes.
Mohawk name
That little girl entered this world, waving her little hands and arms. I thought to myself, “Look at her! She is already showing off her wings, our beautiful little snipe.”
Mohawk language curriculum
I used to teach Mohawk at Howard S. Billings from 1972 to 1979. Once I walked out of the school I never went back. That was in ‘79 with Bill 101 but, I had to stay and finish that year even though I had no more students because all the students came back to Kahnawà:ke.
School committee
At the time, all the schools were federally run. About 400 of our students went to Billings high school in Chateauguay and they were treated badly. We tried to implement Mohawk language classes, which got started, but then Bill 101 was passed.
I don’t get the choice
There we were with our camera, and we had Marine Corps behind us with M16s ready to shoot, and we got the KGB across with AK47s, ready to shoot.
Taking back control
The people in town said that enough is enough. We are going to take over our education.
Prior to that, we had no one teaching us our culture, our language. It was all through Ottawa, they decided what we would learn. We used to have an Indian Agent in Kahnawà:ke who more or less ran the show.
Another century
I get down there and I saw the bathroom doors. I looked and there’s my cousin Mavis. I recognized her shoes. I was so happy to see someone I knew so I spoke to her. I don’t even remember what I was saying to but as soon as I turned around WHOM!
American quarters
I learned the Indian songs from the other kids. I could only get so far, and the other kids would finish it off because they knew the whole song. We all sang together and then the tourists would throw their nickels and dimes.
Not washed up yet
I was knocked out for a while, but my boss had an old Polaroid camera, and he took a hell of a lot of pictures when I was in the hole. To my right there was rebar sticking out. If I hit that, I'd be a dead man.
Echoes of Hooks Point
As kids, we used to play from sunrise to sundown, and sometimes we camped in our own yards. We’d go to the river in the summer to go swimming and fishing, and during the winter, we used to skate on the pond and play hockey.
Snaring rabbits
Every morning before school we would go out to the village and check the snares to see if we caught any from the night before. We had to go early in the morning because the rabbits are busy at night and we had to make sure that no dogs would get to it.
Hot spot
My son lit a candle and when I put my hand over the flame, this black soot shot up. I felt it leave my hand and my hand was covered in soot. The young man left and said, “Thank you very much.” He was going to go back to work on Monday morning.My son lit a candle and when I put my hand over the flame, this black soot shot up. I felt it leave my hand and my hand was covered in soot. The young man left and said, “Thank you very much.” He was going to go back to work on Monday morning.
The Waltz of Wind
So that night I sang to her, I sang “The Waltz of the Wind” by Hank Williams, and if you listen to it, it’s about meeting a girl and all that, and she’s gonna be yours forever.We even went to Belmont Park and Lionel recorded it.
That's my home
I told them, “Shoot. You got my whole back as a target. If you can’t hit me, then there’s something wrong and you shouldn’t be a cop.” I walked right through. I left my car out there because you couldn't get gas anyways. In town, gas was only for ambulance, fire trucks, things like that.
Coffee break
I had to go to school across the river because we didn’t have a high school in Kahnawà:ke. I went to Bishop Whelan High School in Lachine. There were a bunch of us, and I was the only one that spoke Mohawk, so I had no one to speak with. I didn’t use it daily, but the language was still in me.
The wells
The council would come, from time to time, to do tests to see if there was bacteria. They said the well water itself was good, but that it wasn’t drinkable because of the mineral built up and rust inside the well. The pumps at the surface were eventually disconnected from the cylinders, but not all of them were.
Marriage in Eagle Bay
I remember the crowd—so many came to celebrate with us. Ruth and the women lovingly sewed our wedding clothes by hand, each stitch a testament to care and tradition. Friends and family traveled from Kahnawà:ke to Eagle Bay, bringing joy and laughter.
Needing some excitement
The older veterans did what they could, and the younger veterans passed on what they knew about survival, fighting, and a little bit of medical stuff. I tried to instill discipline because most of the land defenders only had a handful of ammunition and hunting rifles.