Kannata

Kannata village reconstruction in 2012

"When you see Arnie again ask him why the Confederacy does nothing about this land."

The chance that I see Arnie any time soon is very slim. I saw him yesterday, However, tomorrow I have a flight back to England I have no idea when I will visit Canada again. What's more, Arnie is 80 years old and not in a very good health.

I am in a place called Kannata in a building occupied by Mohawk Warriors. Right now it is being occupied by two people, one Mohawk and one white supporter. I am trying to find out what this protest is about but even after a longish conversation it is not clear to me. I am told that Brantford town council decided to make it a place for drug addicts so they can change their needles here anonymously but the Mohawks didn't want that and seized the building. The Mohawks say that this land belongs to Indians and the town council has no right to decide about it.

I have been in the very same spot 13 years ago, in 1999. Then chief Arnie General brought me here to show me a reconstruction of an ancient Iroquois longhouse. At the time it seemed to be a part of the Museum of Woodland Cultures, which itself was run by the Iroquois. Being in Brantford again I wanted to see the old places and went to this museum but was told that the reconstructed Mohawk village is now occupied by rebel Mohawks and the museum has nothing to do with it. It is only a few hundred metres away so I walked there and saw that the reconstructed village is still standing, but only just. It seems to be in a rather sorry state, certainly not a tourist attraction. A neighbouring building is occupied by two guys who represent the rebel Mohawks. I ask what the rebellion is about but they don't seem to be very clear in their answers. From the conversation I gather that they rebel against:

Yowne

a. The Council of the city of Brantford

b. The Council of the Six Nations Reserve which officially is the owner of the piece of land on which the reconstructed village stands.

c. Six Nations Confederacy Council, which meets on the Six Nations Reserve, but is not recognised by the Canadian government and has no political power. Chief Arnie General, whom I met several times, is a member of this body. Of the two guys who occupy the building one is a real Mohawk but is not very talkative, the other is a white Canadian named Andy, who supports the cause. He is the one talking to me but appears to be not very well informed. He seems to confuse the Reserve Council, recognised by the government, and the unrecognised Confederacy Council. He blames Arnie for things like state of education on the reserve. He also says that the Grand River Reserve was given to the Mohawks and the other tribes of the Confederacy have no rights to it. The document of governor Haldiman, who in 1795 gave this land to Mohawks, is still in possession of the tribe but is kept in a secret place.

"Yowne should come here soon. She is an elder and an expert on Indian herbal medicine. She also supports the Mohawk movement." Indeed soon a white car arrives, an Indian lady gets out and joins the conversation. She seems to be in a good health even though she is just as old as Arnie. She knows him, of course. She explains a little more who the rebel Mohawks are. She says they are the Mohawk Workers, which is not a new organisation. It existed before the war and was against removing the Confederacy chiefs from power. Mohawk Workers are Christians who think that the Confederacy Council, which is dominated by the Longhouse chiefs, is not radical enough.

Haldiman monument in Ohsweken

"We live in a dysfunctional society", she says. "So many young people commit suicide, but it is we ourselves who should give them hope. What can we achieve if we are so divided? We are like crabs in a bucket, if one climbs higher, others pull him down." She also talks about the Haldiman document. "You want to see that document? Bill Squires has it. I'll phone him. Damn it, he doesn't answer."

The information that the Mohawks are in possession of the document is a bit surprising. A few years ago Yvonne Thomas, my other friend on the reserve and herself a Mohawk, asked me to find the original document in the British Library. They wanted to build a monument commemorating the declaration and wanted to cut in stone a facsimile of the original. They couldn't find it in Canada so she asked me to try to find it in London. I couldn't find it either. In the British Library I found only a handwritten copy in a personal notebook of the governor Haldiman. He copied in this notebook all the documents he issued. Yvonne didn't want this and after all they cut on the monument the words of the declaration written in a computer type. I saw this monument only yesterday in Ohsweken. It has the Haldimand document cut in stone as well as a map of the lands given to the Iroquois.

I met Yvonne yesterday as well in Ohsweken, on the rez. There was a village feast there, a small powwow in a gym, a small fair outside. Yvonne in such cases usually has a stand with hand made copies of old wampums. It takes a lot of time to make such a wampum. Yvonne sat behind her stand and patiently threaded white and purple beads. She shared her stand with Naomi who demonstrated similar threading skills of the Ojibway. In the 19th century the Ojibway did not wear buckskins any more but cloth jackets decorated with beads in fantastic patterns. Naomi showed me how it was done on little bead strawberries. I mentioned that my Marysia would have liked it, pity she couldn't see it any more. Naomi must have noticed tears in my eyes when I said this because she chose one of her bead strawberries and said:

"This one is for you."

The strawberry looks not quite ripe, the beads are green and yellow, but it is beautiful all the same.

You will find this text, 
and many more on the subject, 
in my book "DO THEY STILL LIVE IN WIGWAMS?":