STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
Her escape
The girls and the boys were split up between two buildings but they were only about 150 feet apart. We were at the Garnier Residential School and the girls were at the St. Joseph Residential School.
Mohawk language in the schools
The summer following my first year teaching in 1973, five of us enrolled in the Teacher Training Program offered by the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. That fall I got a job at Kateri School teaching grades 1, 2, and 3.
Our own grandparents
There’s so much to say. The education system, to me, teaches you how to make a living, how to make money, all of that. But it doesn’t teach you how to live a good life.
Mohawk names
Growing up, we only used the Mohawk language so when I started going to Kateri School in Kahnawake, I only knew maybe half a dozen words of English. So I had a hard time.
The kind of work I do
My last iron job was in 2004 in Sorel. That was when I was having problems with my lower hernia. I had to have surgery.
A little bit of trouble
Most of the children in immersion came from English speaking families, and there were people out there with second language, but few. So, we had to be very strict in the school, that it was total immersion.
A special time
After a few years in the classroom, I became principal of Karonhianónhnha Immersion School. Oh my goodness, those were the days.
Kahnawake education centre
Kahnawake did a great thing, because in 1980 we established the Kahnawake Education Centre. We took control of our own curriculum and decided what would be taught in the schools.
Abusive indian day school
I went to Indian day school, and we had non-Native teachers that were very abusive towards us. You know, calling us mostly “sauvage,” or “f’in Indians,” different stuff like that, getting smacked and getting hit and saying “you’re stupid” or “you’re a dirty savage,” everything.
Transported
For grade 6, we used to get transported from Kahnawake to LaSalle. We got moved around a bit here and there. A lot of it was outside of the community.