KANATA Vol. 3 Winter 2010
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KANATA VOLUME 3 UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF THE INDIGENOUS STUDIES COMMUNITY OF MCGILL KANATA KANATA UNDERGRADUATE JOURNAL OF THE INDIGENOUS STUDIES COMMUNITY OF MCGILL VOLUME 3 WINTER 2010 McGILL UNIVERSITY MONTREAL, QUEBEC Acknowledgements Faculty, Administrative & Scholarly: Support and Advisors Kathryn Muller, Donna-Lee Smith, Michael Loft, Michael Doxtater, Like Moreau, Marianne Stenbaeck, Luke Moreau, Waneek Horn-Miller, Lynn Fletcher, Niigenwedom J. Sinclair, Karis Shearer, Keavy Martin, Lisa E. Stevenson, Morning Star, Rob Innes, Deanna Reder, Dean Jane Everett, Dean Christopher Manfredi, Jana Luker, Ronald Niezen Organisational Support McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC); First Peoples House (FPH); Borderless Worlds Volunteers (BWV); McGill University Joint Senate Board Subcommittee on First peoples’ Equity (JSBC-FPE); Anthropology Students Association(ASA); Student Society of McGill University (SSMU); Arts Undergraduate Society (AUS); Quebec Public Interest Research Group McGill (QPIRG) KANATA EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PAMELA FILLION EXECUTIVE BOARD, EDITORIAL BOARD JAMES ROSS Paumalū CASSIDAY CHARLOTTE BURNS ALANNA BOCKUS SARA MARANDA-GAUVIN KRISTIN FILIATRAULT NICOLAS VAN BEEK SCOTT BAKER ROSALIE DION-PICARD CASSANDRA PORTER SOPHIA RASHID KAHN JOHN AYMES HOSSAI MAJID KEVIN WYLLIE DESIGN EDITORS JOHN AYMES PAUL COL For more information visit our website at: http://kanata.qpirgmcgill.org Submit content to KANATA, contact [email protected] Table of Contents Foreword- Editor’s Note 6 Pamela Fillion Guest Editorial- 20 ans après la crise d’Oka: Mon voyage vers la 9 réconciliation 20 Years After the Oka Crisis: My Journey to Reconciliation 16 Francine Lemay My boys 22 Michael Loft Quand survie égale crise : La crise d’Oka 23 Aude Leroux-Chartre Les relations politiques entre Amérindiens et Européens : des 37 conceptions divergentes Marie-France Barrette Membership Politics in Kahnawake: The Inter-Group & 42 Intra-Group Dynamics of Identity Eloise Ouellet-Décoste Education in Kahnawake: An Interview with Rose Anne Beauvais 61 Nicolas Moreau Various Artwork 70 Rebecca Tekatsitsahkhwa Robertson Apartheid on Turtle Island 74 Pamela Fillion Conflict and Co-operation in the Grand River Region 94 Christine Porterfield Band-Aid Solutions to Self-Destruction? :Development in 105 Canada and the Case of Grassy Narrows Catherine Duclos Monoculturalism: Negotiating the Place of Indigenous People 120 in Agriculture after the Green Revolution. A Look at the A ndean Experience. Marianna Daniels Portraits 135 Young Artist Warriors Indigenous Peoples’ and the Media 140 Xiomara Hurni-Cranston Research Paper: Indigeneity and the Internet 156 Alexandra Wilson Collection of Four Poems 163 Nogeeshik Isaac La représentation de la crise d’Oka par les médias 167 Aude Leroux-Chartre Partners and Resources 180 Forward- Editor’s Note Pamela Fillion Post-Oka Kinda Woman Here she comes strutting down your street. This Post-Oka woman don’t take no shit. She’s done with victimization, reparation, degradation, assimilation, devolution, coddled collusion, the ‘plight of the Native Peoples.’ Post-Oka woman, she’s o.k. She shashay into your suburbia. Mackenzie Way, Riel Crescent belong to her like software, microwave ovens, plastic Christmas trees and lawn chairs. Her daughter wears Reeboks and works out. Her sons cook and wash up. Her grandkids don’t sass their Kohkom! No way. She drives a Toyota, reads bestsellers, sweats on weekends, colors her hair, sings old songs, gathers herbs. Two step Tuesdays, Round dances on Wednesday, Twelve steps when she needs it. Post-Oka woman she’s struttin’ her stuff not walkin’ one step behind her man. She don’t take that shit Don’t need it! Don’t want it. You want her than treat her right. Talk to her of post-modern deconstructivism 6 She’ll say: ‘What took you so long?’ You wanna discuss Land Claims? She’ll tell ya she’d rather leave her kids with a struggle than a bad settlement. Indian Government? Show her cold hard cash. Tell her you’ve never talked to a real live ‘Indian’ She’ll say: ‘Isn’t that special.’ Post-Oka woman, she’s cheeky. She’s bold. She’s cold. And she don’t take no shit! No shit. Beth Cuthand in Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English (ed. Daniel David Moses & Terry Goldie) KANATA is an annual publication by McGill’s Indigenous Studies Community also named KANATA. This third volume of KANATA highlights the 20th anniversary of the Oka Crisis. The Oka Crisis of 1990 had a deep impact on many levels in North America and even abroad. What began as a local dispute between the municipality of Oka, Quebec pushing for the expansion of a golf course at the expense of the burial grounds and sacred pines of the Kanien:keha’ka (Mohawks) of Kanesatake quickly and dangerously escalated into a stand- off between a community and the strong-hand of the State. Public response to the crisis demonstrated a disturbing lack of understanding by the general public and by the State about the First Peoples’ of North America. The many hate riots evidenced and thus triggered a demand for change to a deep- seated problem in Quebec and in North America. Indeed, the Oka Crisis was a watershed moment for change in native-newcomer relationships in North America. Twenty years after the events which began on July 11, 1990 and ended on September 26, 1990, so much has changed and yet so little has changed in terms of how the Indigenous Peoples’ of Canada are understood by the public and by the State. 7 The main focus of KANATA’s mandate is to create a community of support for the sharing, discovering, and discussion of knowledge relating to Indigenous Peoples’ of North America. KANATA creates the space for and networks for, as well as facilitates the learning opportunities for students and individuals who are interested in Indigenous Studies . Furthermore, KANATA aims to make the knowledge shared by, discovered by, and exchanged by students and individuals in the community readily available on- campus and off-campus through events and more importantly through publishing (thus promoting pride in) the productions of knowledge of its members and contributors. Lastly, the mandate of KANATA is to operate within academic institutions but to widen and reflect on the nature of what is considered “academic”. For KANATA, “academia” is defined more in terms of a search for knowledge and understanding rather than a claim to expertise. Ultimately, KANATA aims to strengthen and better Native and Non-Native relations in North America through the search for and advocacy of knowledge both in the academic setting and for the wider North American public. The cover art, Jolene, is part of an artwork submission by Young Artist Warriors and is painted by artist Jeska Slater. 8 20 ans après la crise d’Oka Mon voyage vers la réconciliation Francine Lemay Avant la crise d’Oka, je ne savais à peu près rien des Indiens. Les mots « autochtone » et « Premières nations » ne faisaient pas partie de mon vocabulaire, comme c’était le cas pour bien des Québécois. Mes connaissances se limitaient à ce que mon livre d’histoire du Canada m’avait enseigné : les Hurons étaient les bons Indiens et les amis des Français, et les Iroquois étaient les méchants Indiens, alliés des Anglais. Mon livre parlait aussi du massacre de Lachine et de Dollard des Ormeaux qui avait péri avec plusieurs autres fiers soldats au fort Long Sault, et présentait les images effroyables des pères jésuites Jogues, Lalemant, de Brébeuf et Goupil attachés à un poteau au milieu d’un feu dévorant. Tragédie dans la pinède Le 11 juillet 1990, un événement tragique et bouleversant vient renforcer ma perception négative des Iroquois. Un membre de ma famille me téléphone pour m’annoncer que mon jeune frère Marcel, alors caporal pour la Sûreté du Québec et membre du Groupe tactique d’intervention, vient d’être tué par balle à Oka lors d’un raid policier. Je n’en crois pas mes oreilles; je suis atterrée. J’ignorais tout de ce qui se passait à Kanehsatake depuis quelques mois, ou plutôt depuis quelques siècles. Tout ce que je savais, c’est que j’avais perdu mon frère dans un échange de coups de feu à cause de barricades dressées par les Mohawks, que la police avait reçu l’ordre de démanteler. Jeune homme téméraire de 31 ans, Marcel, le seul à avoir perdu la vie dans cet affrontement, laisse dans le deuil sa femme enceinte de leur deuxième enfant, sa mère, trois frères et deux sœurs. Pendant des mois, les médias ne parlent que des événements entourant la crise qui durera 78 jours. Des images saisissantes dans les journaux ne font qu’empirer la situation, ainsi que la perception que la population a des Indiens, la mienne y comprise. Des cauchemars d’Indiens ravageant des maisons et tuant des Blancs viennent perturber mes nuits. Mais en bonne chrétienne, j’étouffe toutes les pensées négatives qui m’assaillent pour « pardonner » à celui qui a tué mon frère. J’ignore tout de la nature des revendications à l’origine de la crise, soit un terrain de golf que 9 le maire d’Oka veut agrandir en empiétant sur le cimetière et la pinède des Mohawks. Cependant, mon pardon n’est qu’intellectuel, superficiel. Certes, il repose sur un principe chrétien fondamental, mais il n’est pas profond; je ne le ressens pas vraiment. En outre, toutes sortes de propagandes racistes et d’informations tendancieuses réussissent à implanter fermement en moi des préjugés que je me garde bien de révéler. Découverte d’un nouveau monde Quatorze années s’écoulent quand un jour deux étudiants, qui travaillent pour la radio communautaire de l’Université McGill, me téléphonent et désirent me rencontrer pour m’interviewer sur la crise d’Oka. Hésitante et le cœur battant, je leur demande de m’accorder trois jours pour y réfléchir.