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Kahnawake

Coordinates: 45°25′N 73°41′W / 45.417°N 73.683°W / 45.417; -73.683
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Kahnawà:ke (Quebec)
Indian Reserve
Kahnawà:ke
Historic photo of Kahnawake, ca. 1860
Historic photo of Kahnawake, ca. 1860
Location of Kahnawake, outside of Roussillon Regional County Municipality.
Location of Kahnawake, outside of Roussillon Regional County Municipality.
Country Canada
Province Quebec
RegionMontérégie
RCMRoussillon
Within RCM, but unassociated
Electoral Districts
Federal
Châteauguay—Saint-Constant
ProvincialChâteauguay
Government
[1][2][3]
 • TypeBand council
 • Grand ChiefMike Delisle Jr.
 • Federal MP(s)Carole Freeman (BQ)
 • Quebec MNA(s)Pierre Moreau (PLQ)
Area
[4]
 • Land50.41 km2 (19.46 sq mi)
Population
 (2006)[4]
 • Total~8,000
 • Density140.9/km2 (365/sq mi)
 • Change (2001-06)
?
 • Dwellings
?
Time zoneUTC-5 (EST)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
Postal code(s)
J0L1B0
Area code450
Access Routes[5] R-132
R-138
R-207
Websitewww.kahnawake.com

The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (IPA: [ɡahna'waːɡe] in Mohawk, Kahnawáˀkye[6] in Tuscarora) is an Indian reserve on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec, Canada, across from Montreal. Recorded by French Canadians in 1719 as a Jesuit mission, it has also been known as Seigneury Sault du St. Louis, Caughnawaga and 17 European spelling variations of the Mohawk Kahnawake.

Kahnawake's territory totals an area of 48.05 square kilometres. Its resident population numbers about 8,000, with a significant number off the territory. Its land base today is unevenly distributed due to federal Indian Act law that oversees individual land possession, unlike the Canadian norms that apply to the land around it. Kahnawake residents originally spoke their Mohawk language, and some learned French when under French rule. Allied with the British government during the American Revolutionary War, they have since become mostly English speaking.[citation needed]

Although people of European descent traditionally call the residents of Kahnawake, "Mohawk," their autonym is Kanien’kehá:ka (the "People of the Flint"). The Kanien’kehá:ka are the most easterly nation of the Haudenosaunee (Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy) and are also known as the "Keepers of the Eastern Door". Based with the Iroquois in present-day New York, they protected the Iroquois people against invasion by tribes from present-day New England and the coastal areas.

Location

Kahnawake is located at the southwest shore where the St. Lawrence River narrows. The territory is described in the native language as "on, or by the rapids" (of the Saint Lawrence River) (in French, it was originally called Sault du St. Louis). This term refers to the people's village that was along the natural rapids of the old river, before the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

The French colony in North America used the location of Kahnawake to form a southwestern defence for Ville-Marie (later Montreal). The French placed a military garrison there. The Jesuits founded a mission to administer to local Kahnawake, and provide a base from which to send missionary priests west. Jesuit records give a settlement date of 1719. Kahnawake oral tradition has accounts of an ancestral claim dating back some 10,000 years.[citation needed]

Since the 1950s, however, archeological and linguistic studies have demonstrated that the St. Lawrence Valley was not the original homeland of the Kanien’kehá:ka, who emerged south of there in present-day New York. Nor was it the homeland of the Onondaga or Oneida Iroquois nations, as had been theorized by some earlier historians. Instead, it was inhabited for centuries by a discrete Iroquoian-speaking people now called the St. Lawrence Iroquoians. They started settling in the area about 1000 CE, and lived in the valley as an identifiable people from the 1300s to the late 16th century, creating the villages of Stadacona, Hochelaga and others visited by explorer Jacques Cartier in the 1530s.[7] Evidence suggest they were driven from the valley or destroyed by attacks by the Kanien’kehá:ka, who wanted to control the fur trade and hunting in that area.[7]

Kahnawake is one of several Kanien’kehá:ka settlements in Canada, including Kanesatake on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River southwest of Montreal; Akwesasne, crossing the borders of Quebec, Ontario and New York; and the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation near Niagara Falls.

Internal relations with non-Natives

There is a long and complex history of white settlement in Kahnawake since the reserve land was "donated" by the French Crown. Through the First Nations' adoption of captives, the stationing of French colonial troops (who formed liaisons with local women and had children by them), the establishment of shopkeepers, and many marriages between white men and Indian women through the 18th century, many Kahnawake people became related to people of French, Scots and Irish descent. By the 1790s and early 1800s, visitors often described the "great mixture of blood" there. They also wrote that many "pure" white children were being brought up as Indians.[citation needed]

Names such as Beauvais, D'Ailleboust, de La Ronde Thibaudière, Delisle, de Lorimier, Giasson, Johnson, Mailloux, McComber, McGregor, Montour, Phillips, Rice, Stacey, Tarbell, and Williams are still present in Kahnawake today. They suggest the mixture of ancestry through adoption and intermarriage with non-Natives. The Tarbell ancestors, for instance, were John and Zachary, brothers captured as young children from Groton, Massachusetts in 1707 during Queen Anne's War and taken to Canada. They were adopted by Mohawk families in Kahnawake and became thoroughly assimilated, so were considered part of the Kahnawake Mohawk. They converted to Catholicism and married women who were daughters of chiefs, reared children with them, and became chiefs themselves.[8][9]

Sources indicate that relations between whites and Natives have not always been peaceful in Kahnawake. In 1722, community residents objected to the establishment of French soldiers there because they feared it would cause "horrible discord". Some stated that the presence of troops proved that the French did not trust the locals. In the mid-1720s, the community evicted the Desaulnier sisters, traders who were garnering profits formerly earned by Kahnawake families. In 1771, twenty-two Mohawk pressed British officials to help them prevent two local families from bringing French families to settle "on lands reserved for their common use".

In 1812, tensions were high as many were opposed to specific types of "mixed" marriages. In 1822, agent Nicolas Doucet reported that the community was growing frustrated by marriages in which white husbands acquired rights over the lives and properties of their Iroquois wives. In 1828, based on the "Provincial Ordinance of the 17 Geo III. C.7.", which included the means for "compelling the removal of persons who had settled in the Indian village of Caughnawaga", the village expelled whites who were "poisoning" the Iroquois "with rum and spirituous liquors". In spite of this, others requested permission to stay. In some cases, widowed wives of retired or deceased officers, Indian status was granted. In 1836, three "negroes" (as they are referred to in documents) lived in Kahnawake: "Glasco and wife", as well Joseph Thompson, all of whom worked as labourers. Records note they had been asked to leave many times but had returned. (cited from Hughes to Napier, 28 March 1836, Archives George Baby, documents no. u5881-2). Tensions were also high around the time of the 1837-38 Rebellions, as the community was divided in regards to whether Kahnawake resident Antoine-George de Lorimier should be evicted or not. In fact, even if his mother was Iroquois, had been born and raised in Kahnawake, and had the Iroquois name Oronhiatekha (brilliant sky or burning sky), George de Lorimier's status as an Indian remained controversial for a long time, even after his death. His sons were to sell his many properties and left Kahnawake to pursue their lives elsewhere.

In 1850, Kahnawake chiefs write that it was "not allowed for any white man who marries an Indian woman to have the rights of Indians; by marrying a white man, an Indian woman as well as her children will lose her rights to the tribe; an Indian man who marries a white woman may bring her into his house, and she, as well as her children, will have the rights of Indians of the tribe. A white person cannot live among us and have our rights. These rights have been passed down to use by our ancestors, and they have always been respected." (Translated from Martin Tekanasontie et al. to Lord Elgin, 18 September 1850, National Archives of Canada, RG10, vol. 607: pp. 51857)

In the 1860s, some were said to have threatened the lives and properties of families of "Canadians", whose members were not seen as legitimate Indians. The "Delorimier, Giasson, Deblois, Meloche and a few others" were accused of being "masters of our Reserve". Similar threats continued in the 1870s and 1880s. In 1878, a warning document signed by eight people was placed on the church's door and addressed to the "half-breeds" living in the village. In another letter, some warned that they would "bring down vengeance on those who have given trouble, on those who are making themselves masters here [...]. The same thing will happen to the Indians who are in favor of the Canadians." Houses and barns were destroyed by arson while cows and horses were killed. Osias Meloche, the husband of Charlotte-Louise Giasson, a daughter of Charles Gédéon Giasson, was killed in the arson fire that destroyed his home and barn in May 1878. [10]. See also, Matthieu Sossoyan, "Kahnawake has long history of conflict with Whites", Montreal Gazette, February 18, 2010.[11]

Major construction projects

Historically, the federal and Quebec governments have often located large civil engineering projects benefiting the southern Quebec economy through Kahnawake lands. It is criss-crossed by power lines from hydroelectric plants, rail and vehicle highways and bridges.

One of the first of such projects was the fledgling Canadian Pacific Railway's Saint Lawrence Bridge. The masonry work was done by Reid & Fleming, and the steel superstructure was built by the Dominion Bridge Company. In 1886 and 1887, the new bridge was built across the broad river from Kahnawake to Montreal Island. Kahnawake men worked as bridgemen and ironworkers hundreds of feet above the water and ground.

Here started the legendary stereotype that Native American men have no fear of heights. Thirty-three Kahnawake (Mohawks) died in the collapse of the Quebec Bridge in 1907, one of the worst construction failures of all time.[12] Kahnawake men later participated in building the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and others in New York City.

When the national government decided to pass the Saint Lawrence Seaway canal cut through the village, the people and buildings of Kahnawake were permanently separated from the natural river shore. They had been sited there for hundreds of years.

Gambling/gaming

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission offers gambling licenses to Internet-based poker, casino, and sportsbook sites. It has established Kahnawake as a substantial player in that business.

Mohawk Internet Technologies (MIT), a local data center located within the territory, hosts and manages many Internet gambling websites, also providing high-tech employment to its people. MIT is the closest and fastest source for "legally hosted" gambling websites for North American players. Established in 1998, MIT has become a "remarkably profitable" enterprise.[13]

Politics

Fifty men from Kahnawake volunteered to fight with the United States armed forces during the Vietnam War.[14]

While working to strengthen their culture and language, Kahnawake has generally not had the political turmoil that has affected the nearby, smaller Kanesatake Mohawk reserve. In support of Kanesatake during the Oka Crisis in 1990, people from Kahnawake blocked the Honoré Mercier Bridge to Montreal. This was in response to Kanesatake's having been blockaded by the Sûreté du Québec. After some time, Kahnawake negotiated separately with the armed forces to remove the blockade.

Both the Canadian and Quebec governments dispute the legality of Kahnawake's gambling operations, but have not risked taking further action. They were strongly criticized for actions during the Oka Crisis.

International use of flag

In 2007, two vessels operated by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society flew the Kahnawake Mohawk flag.[15] The Kahnawake Mohawk nation is the only indigenous American sovereign nation to have deep-sea foreign-going vessels flying their flag. Since December 2007 the Sea Shepherd vessels have been registered in the Netherlands.[16]

Notable residents

Media

Kahnawake has several media outlets in the community:

  • The Eastern Door, an award winning newspaper that publishes each Friday
  • K103 Radio, a radio station serving the community for over 25 years -
  • Mohawk TV/Loud Spirit Productions, a television company that features weekly programing as well as a reality show.
  • Mohawk Radio, an Internet based radio station, which received an award for its junior hockey broadcasts.
  • The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Communications Department, produces "Kwatokent TV," a bi-weekly informational program
  • Iorì:wase News, an online newspaper from the Kanien’kéhá:ka Nation

Schools

  • Kahnawake Survival School; high school.
  • Kateri School; elementary school.
  • Karonhianonhnha School; elementary school.
  • Indian Way School; elementary school.
  • Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School; elementary school.
  • Step By Step Child and Family Centre; early learning/nursery.
  • Kahnawake Learning Centre.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kahnawake.com - Council chiefs
  2. ^ Parliament of Canada Federal Riding History: CHÂTEAUGUAY--SAINT-CONSTANT, Quebec
  3. ^ Chief Electoral Officer of Québec - 40th General Election Results: CHÂTEAUGUAY
  4. ^ a b 2006 Statistics Canada Community Profile: Kahnawake
  5. ^ Official Transport Quebec Road Map
  6. ^ Rudes, B. Tuscarora English Dictionary Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999
  7. ^ a b James F. Pendergast. (1998). "The Confusing Identities Attributed to Stadacona and Hochelaga", Journal of Canadian Studies, Volume 32, pp. 149-159, accessed 3 Feb 2010
  8. ^ John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1994, pp. 186 and 224
  9. ^ Bonaparte, "The History of Akwesasne", The Wampum Chronicles, accessed 1 Feb 2010
  10. ^ Matthieu Sossoyan: The Kahnawake Iroquois and the Lower-Canadian Rebellions, 1837-1838, McGill University, Master's Thesis in Anthropology, 1999: p. 82-85 http://de.scientificcommons.org/7829560
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ Middleton, William D. The bridge at Québec (Indiana University Press (2001), ISBN 10: 0253337615), pgs.99-101
  13. ^ D. McDonald, "All bets are off: A tsunami hit the online gambling industry this month and it washed right up to the doors of a building on Highway 138 on the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve", The Gazette (Montreal), 28 Oct 2006, accessed 16 Feb 2010
  14. ^ Morrison, Wilbur H. (2001). The Elephant and the Tiger. Hellgate Press. p. 597. ISBN 1-55571-612-1.
  15. ^ Sea Shepherd - Sea Shepherd Receives the Flag of the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
  16. ^ "Neptune's Navy". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2008-01-18.



45°25′N 73°41′W / 45.417°N 73.683°W / 45.417; -73.683

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