Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-13 Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-13

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.

Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-06 Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-06

Greedy people

A lot of people, you give them a place on the land, their shares, but not everybody is happy receiving their area or money. They want everything.

Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-06 Simona Rosenfield 2023-01-06

An elder’s secret

When we were children, I was always in a hurry to grow up. The elders, the women, they would tell me, “It’s not as exciting as you think.

Callie Giaccone 2022-12-30 Callie Giaccone 2022-12-30

Growing up in Kahnawake

When I was growing up in the village of Kahnawake, the area was beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Callie Giaccone 2022-12-30 Callie Giaccone 2022-12-30

The return of the doll

We moved so many times that eventually, I lost the Christmas doll. Fifteen years ago, I was at a scrapping workshop with a very close and devoted friend, Pauline Wiedow. We were all sharing our favourite stories, and I told my story of the doll.

Callie Giaccone 2022-12-16 Callie Giaccone 2022-12-16

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.

Callie Giaccone 2022-12-16 Callie Giaccone 2022-12-16

D’ailleboust general store

There was a general store adjacent to the church. It was called Louis D'ailleboust store, and this store had everything and anything.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-09 Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-09

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.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-09 Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-09

The wharf

The seaway, before everything came in, people were always out there swimming, having a good time. There was a wharf on the end. Even there you would hear the language spoken.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-02 Simona Rosenfield 2022-12-02

Kahnawake before 1955

There’s a little house on the map named Tom Jacobs. Right behind that, by the river, there was a Manhattan beach, they called it. It was my brother’s place, William Cross The River.

Marcus Bankuti 2022-12-02 Marcus Bankuti 2022-12-02

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’.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-25 Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-25

Her doll

A few weeks after everything, she did call me and asked me if I could come to her house. She was sitting in the bedroom of her son. The way he left it is the way she left it.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-25 Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-25

Mothers

When our youngest daughter was five years old, she went to kindergarten in the community. We were told that one of the children in her class had an accident on the weekend, where the milk truck ran over her classmate. Here we go again, right?

Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-18 Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-18

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.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-18 Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-18

Savage

Through the University of Montreal, I’m the resident elder now at the university. When I look back in the past, if I even thought of something like that, I would get beaten up.

Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-11 Simona Rosenfield 2022-11-11

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.