STORIES / Okara’shòn:’a

Burning wood
Tradition, Family Marcus Bankuti Tradition, Family Marcus Bankuti

Burning wood

I remember in those years, when I was much younger, there were people still burning wood. There was a lot of wood burning. You would smell the smoke of wood stoves. During the holidays, and especially around new years, people used to go around to visit, so your relatives would come to your house, and that would last about a week.  

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Childhood hijinks
Culture, Personal Marcus Bankuti Culture, Personal Marcus Bankuti

Childhood hijinks

I think the road from Kateri School to the hospital was the only road that was paved here in Kahnawake. There were a lot of dirt roads, a lot of hills. There were a lot of old houses. I remember a lot of the houses didn’t have good insulation, and in the wintertime there would be giant icicles on many houses - some right to the roof, right from the ground.

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Big giant hole
Family, St. Lawrence Seaway Emma McLaughlin Family, St. Lawrence Seaway Emma McLaughlin

Big giant hole

I used to play in the Seaway while it was being dug. My grandfather’s house, where I would stay in the summer, is just one street up from the river. They call it the Church road. From there, we used to just walk down to the river that used to be there. The riverside was where most of us would spend almost every summer day. It was within a football field’s distance.

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Inclination to share
Education, Language, Personal Jonathan Turenne Education, Language, Personal Jonathan Turenne

Inclination to share

I wish everybody would think the way I do; embracing the idea of helping one another and not holding back their knowledge. It’s crucial because when we pass away, all that wisdom disappears with us. There are few of us left from my generation and we are dwindling, especially in recent times as we lose more friends one by one.

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Stay and listen
Language, Education, Family Jonathan Turenne Language, Education, Family Jonathan Turenne

Stay and listen

My cousins Susan, Shirley and Doreen had left our community to work in Montreal. When they returned, something had changed. They couldn't speak our Mohawk language anymore. It saddened me to see them speak English all the time. For me, regardless of where I am, I will always talk in my Native language.

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Nearby farm
Residential school, Agriculture, Education Emma McLaughlin Residential school, Agriculture, Education Emma McLaughlin

Nearby farm

I didn’t go home over the summer like some of the other kids at Spanish residential school. I would be sent to a nearby farm to work and the school would be paid for the work I did. It was like slave labour. But I liked it more than going to school. Like day and night. We would have to work at school during the year anyways. They’d make us clean the gym, the kitchen and do things around the grounds.

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No written history
Language, Education Aaron McComber Language, Education Aaron McComber

No written history

I was living in Detroit for a while. In Michigan, there's so many different nations there. They’re scattered around, very small, different dialects, and are disappearing now.

There’s so many words missing now that were lost.

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Proper indian
Language, Education Aaron McComber Language, Education Aaron McComber

Proper indian

I grew up speaking Mohawk, until English came in. My older sisters were learning it in school, so they started to use English in the house.

Little by little, you pick it up and when I went to school, it was every day. The older people back then couldn’t communicate in English or any other language, strictly Mohawk.

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Not that fluent
Language, Agriculture, Family Melissa Stacey Language, Agriculture, Family Melissa Stacey

Not that fluent

I think that I’m fluent in Mohawk but I’m not that fluent. I think about that often. I could say carrots, onions, and beans but as for other veggies or fruits, I have no idea. I don’t know why. It’s very important to teach children all the veggies because they need to learn that when they’re very young.

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Making lacrosse sticks
Arts, Lacrosse, Culture Emma McLaughlin Arts, Lacrosse, Culture Emma McLaughlin

Making lacrosse sticks

I love lacrosse. Even now, today. My husband Jimmy used to make lacrosse sticks. It was a lot of work. There was a show at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal a while ago. It was an exhibition on things Mohawks made, like lacrosse sticks or basket weaving.

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Gun to gun
1990 Crisis, Mohawk Warriors Aaron McComber 1990 Crisis, Mohawk Warriors Aaron McComber

Gun to gun

Around the first of July, 1990, we went to Kanesatake. We set up patrols and camped out right there in the Pines. We didn’t expect the police to come the way they did. We thought the town workers from Oka were going to come up with chainsaws and bulldozers to start cutting down the trees and bulldoze the graves. That’s not what happened. 

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