STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a
Brick house by the riverside
My father built that house in 1925. It was there 1925 to 1955. They took it away for the Seaway in 55’.
Send the injun
I’m a mountain climber. Well, I used to be a mountain climber. As a matter of fact, I filmed the first Canadian ascent of Mount Everest, which was a flop.
The fourth child
Growing up, I always had dolls to play with, and I used to have dreams about having my own children. Bringing them around the kitchen table and making sure the table was always full. When we had our five children, I was a stay-at-home mom.
Only child
I had a brother. Thirteen years born after me, but he was stillborn. I had a brother for not even an hour.
Dawned on me
I always remember how it started. I was working, it was very shady during those summer days. And all of a sudden, it dawned on me, what I wanna be.
Creation story
I don’t know if Spirit up there, somewhere, is watching over us. When things happen, you go back to your Creation Story, and Creation Story tells us that when we’re born, we come from Spirit World, and we come into this physical world to have an experience of what it’s like to be physical.
The river and the land
When I was born, the seaway had just opened. The water at the river was still clean. I don’t think you could drink it at that time, but the water was clear.
Tourists in town
When we were kids, it seemed like everybody would hang around behind the church. They used to call it the fort.
It’s all in your language
If you hear things in our language, and you wonder, “Why do we say this?” The language teaches you. It’s got your history. It tells your present day, and will tell you tomorrow.
The great goodness is already here
The Great Law of Peace: that’s somebody’s mumbled up translation. Kaianere’kó:wa, that’s what we call it.
Three girls
I was at a meeting and decided to go out and stretch my legs. So I came around the corner of the house, and there was a sandbox there. This one particular family, they had all girls.
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.