Forcibly removed
Ellen Gabriel stands among other Kanehsata'kehró:non in protest regarding landownership in Oka, 2017. (Courtesy: The Eastern Door)
Story told by Ellen Gabriel
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.
They would enter people’s homes, threaten families and often arrest the men.
One of my great-grandmothers lost her unborn child because of a Sulpician who roughed her up and threw her to the floor. Her family was forcibly removed from their home by the Sulpicians with only the clothes on their back. All that just so rich white people could have homes on the land where my grandparents used to live.
Six Nations chiefs read Wampum belts in Brantford, Ontario in 1871. (Courtesy: Electric Studio / Library and Archives Canada / c085137)
We have relatives in Gibson, Muskoka who were from Kanehsatà:ke but lost their land because by the time they returned from Wahta, the Sulpicians has sold their land, and a Quebecois family was living in their home. Therefore, they had no choice but to leave. The ones who stayed here had to endure a lot of violence and oppression from the Sulpicians.
The Sulpicians were at one point in time, one of the largest land holders in Canada.
The Sulpicians claim that through the Two Dog Wampum, that we gave them our lands, but that’s not true, we never surrendered our land.
KANIEN’KÉHA VERSION
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KANIEN’KÉHA VERSION ↓
Tahonnónhton' é:ren sahshakotiia'tenhá:wihte'
A drawing by Oheroskon Dicaire depicts the First Methodist Church in Oka which was later demolished by the Sulpicians not long after it was built in 1875. (Courtesy: McCord Museum Montreal)
Ellen Gabriel IAKOKÁ:RATON
É:so iá:kon ne Kanehsata'kehró:non St. Sulpice Tsi Ionttsihenhstaweienstáhkhwa' nón:we thonwatinonhwenhserário. Ratitsihénhstatsi raotitióhkwa' kénhne' néne roti'khá:res O'seronnì:ke nithoné:non, kwah wahétken tánon' ka'nohsáhtshera' tetkáhere' tsi rotihwistowá:nen rotihwistaká:ion. Tho nihotihwistowanèn:ne' kwah shos enhonténhnha'ne' ratiríhton ahshakonatiesahtà:na' tánon' ahshakonatkón:ten' ne ontionkwe'ta'shòn:'a. Kwah nè:'e roné:ron ísi' ahón:nehte' ne ontionkwe'ta'shòn:'a tsi nón:we iakwanákere'.
Enhshakonataweià:ten' shos, tenhshakononhnharíkhon' ne iehwatsiraién:ton tánon' iotkà:te' tenhshakotinéntsterenke' ne ronnón:kwe.
Tseià:ta ne teiohsotsherá:ne akhsótha' wa'akowirakenhé:ia'se' néne áre'kho teiakawennakerá:ton ase'kénh shaià:ta Ro'khá:res wahshakononhwenhserário' tánon' ohswen'karà:ke iahshakoia'tón:ti'. Roti'khá:res tahonnónhton' é:ren sahshakotiia'tenhá:wihte' nakohwá:tsire' ne tsi nón:we rati'terón:tahkwe' nek raonatsherónnia' shotikéhte'. Eh na'á:wen' né: ki' ne naón:ton' ne ratihnarà:ken ahonná:taien' tsi nón:we ne ionkhsothokòn:'a thni'terón:tahkwe'.
A watercolour painting by Henry Richard S. Bunnett depicts a Sulpician Seminary on Notre Dame Street in Montreal. Circa late 1880s. (Courtesy: McCord Museum Montreal)
Ionkwara'sè:tshen ne Wáhta nonkwá:ti néne Kanehsatà:ke nithoné:non nek tsi sahonáhton'se' tsi ratinákere' ase'kénh shonsahón:newe' tsi Wáhta nithonenónhne', Roti'khá:res wahontenhní:non' raononhóntsa' tánon' skahwatsí:ra Tiaontarikon'kowahró:non ok nà:'a ieshonátien' ne raotinónhskon. Thò:ne káti', ok thontahonanónhton'se' é:ren sahón:nehte'. Néne tsi niká:ien' kheh thón:ne's kwah ó:nen'k tsi wahontahkátstate' néne tsi niiawè:ta' tehonwanateriahtíkhon tánon' tehonwanarahsi'tohrará:kon ne Roti'khá:res.
Énska tsi nikahá:wi tsi náhe', eh ratiia'tarátiene' ne Roti'khá:res néne naonhà:'a tionhontsowá:nen's rononhontsá:ien' raotitióhkwakon ne Koráhne.
Rón:ton wáhi ne Roti'khá:res tsi Tekeniiáhse' È:rhar Kaión:ni iorihwénhton tsi iakhiionhontsá:wi' ne iakwanákere', nek tsi iah tó:kenske té:ken', kwah iah nonwén:ton teionkwatewentéhton ne tsi iakwanákere'.
Translated by Karonhí:io Delaronde