STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
A heavy job
I used to do readings for people. When people have problems, like if they’re scared that somebody is sick in their family, they would come to see me.
Working on bones
My grandmother used to work on bones. Not broken ones because broken ones are very hard to heal but she would work on their muscles.
Dancing softly
My grandmother and her sister performed at the Indian Village together and they did a dance called “Harvesting the Corn.”
The two sisters
My grandmother’s sister stayed just up the road from us. We stayed here on this corner lot with our grandparents, about four houses away.
My grandmother Elizabeth
We had a hard time continuing in education because the church was in control of the education here, the nuns. They had these special nuns from Boston. Sisters of St. Anne they call them. And they were experts at what they call proselytizing – how to change who you are.
Candy, soda and ice cream
We went to church in New York when we were kids. Every Sunday we used to go. After a while, our mother stopped going but she still used to make us go.
Keeping it cold
My grandfather’s birthday is in the summer and he loved his strawberries. He loved his strawberry juice and his strawberry shortcake so he would have that for his birthday.
Our spirituality
There is so much to be taught and there is so much to bring back. I think a lot of it has to do with our spirituality and understanding life. It isn’t life affecting you, it is you affecting life.
Farm abundance
My father was laid back, a man of not many words. When I was younger, I asked him, “What did you do during the depression?" He looked at me kind of funny. He had a habit of kind of shrugging his shoulders.
Rhubarb fields
I grew up on a farm, the Bordeau farm, which was in the family since the 1800s. My late grandfather, he passed in 1948, somehow had secured a contract with Nathan Steinberg of the Steinberg chain of grocery stores.
Rubbed off
Way back when, I think the community was closer than what we are now. It’s still close, but there was more respect at that time. I guess we put money first, before anything else.
Three times
I never knew my father. He passed away when I was only 6 months old. My brother and sister, they were lucky they were never carted away to the residential school, because of my grandparents.
Christmas doll
Christmas was my favourite time of year. When I was about six years old, they had the most beautiful Christmas doll in the display of the general store.
Where I grew up
It’s a joy to see my grandchildren where I grew up. I never thought I’d have grandchildren. All of a sudden, you’re raising your own family, then the grandchildren come along.
