Health and wellness, Onkwahwentsiyo

A Call For Accountability

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A devastating and senseless tragedy has occurred within the Ohsweken community. On August 11th, a young Rotinonsyonni mother of five lost her life due to injuries sustained on August 4th, allegedly resulting from intimate partner violence, commonly known as domestic violence.

Via https://gofund.me/2406e10e


This tragic event has prompted community members to unite and demand an end to domestic violence, especially against women. Despite extensive awareness campaigns for missing and murdered indigenous women, acts of violence like the one committed against Jocelyn Greene continue to happen far too frequently within Onkwehonwe communities.

We Have The Power To Stop These Cycles

It is disheartening to see individuals protecting perpetrators and disregarding the safety of victims and other community members. Such actions perpetuate a cycle of violence and hinder progress toward a safer community. It is essential that all women, regardless of personal feelings, are included in efforts aimed at raising awareness and promoting change within the community. 


We must recognize that domestic violence is unacceptable, regardless of the perpetrator’s identity. Shockingly, over the weekend of August 12th and 13th, emergency services received two calls classified as domestic disturbances, leading this reporter to believe that the issue is more widespread than commonly known.

Ignoring The Problem is a Problem

Even with murder, rape, and brutal assaults shaking the community, an unsettling attitude toward violence against women still appears. Specific community sectors seem to accept this behaviour and look the other way.

The community must come together and confront these issues directly. Holding the community responsible for preventing domestic violence and supporting survivors is a crucial step. Each individual has a role in combating such incidents and creating an environment prioritizing safety and well-being.

Whether it involves refraining from bailing out perpetrators or implementing grassroots policies that force change, these actions can send a powerful message against domestic violence perpetrators and demonstrate support for survivors and affected individuals.

Backing The Victims

While it is important to remember that everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty, it is equally important to acknowledge the seriousness of the alleged crime. Taking a caring and compassionate approach that prioritizes the victim and their loved ones is necessary.

By uniting against violence, the community can deliver a strong message that violence has no place in our society. By working together, we can establish a safer and more compassionate community, empowering survivors and refusing to tolerate violence.

Peace Is A Treaty Right

If members of Onkwehonwe cannot cease harming each other, perhaps it is time to enforce a component of the Treaty of Niagara whereby the most egregious acts become the responsibility of Canada, and the perpetrators become Canadian citizens.

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Onkwahwentsiyo

Is Canada Interfering in an Investigation of Genocide Against Itself?

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Ahead of a scheduled visit by José Francisco Calí Tzay, The UN indigenous rapporteur and  Expert on Indigenous Rights, Kanyen’kehá:ka yakon:kwe Kimberly Murry submitted a report to his office. 

The Independent Special Interlocutor for Missing Children and Unmarked Graves and Burial Sites associated with Indian Residential School raised a red flag regarding a Canadian federal government agreement with a Netherlands-based agency. 

Let’s take a closer look!

On November 1st of 2022, the Canadian Press published a story revealing that the Canadian Federal Government had reached out to an international agency demonstrating an intent to engage. At that time, Marc Miller denied any commitment.

According to an undated briefing note obtained under the freedom of information act titled “contracting the ICMP(International Commission on Missing Persons) for Engagement Services”

~The Canadian Press

Coincidently the ICMP posted, Project Manager Contract, In Canada, Subject to Funding, over Five Months ago, Sometime in October 2022. 

But it wasn’t until January 2/2023, ICMP Director-General Kathryne Boomberger signed the Techinal-Arrangement. Later Finalized by Laura Meideros, Senior Director of the Professional Services Procurement Directorate. 

WHO IS THE ICMP? 

Formed In 1996 at the urging of former United States President Bill Clinton, the commission was to investigate the whereabouts of approximately 40,000 people who were reported missing during the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.

In 2014, the ICMP obtained a new legal status. That would recognize the ICMP as an independent treaty-based organization headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. 

But even with this status, the historical nature and varying cultural implications of some 630+ communities affected by residential schools and the subsequent untimely deaths within their walls will be uncharted territory for this organization. 

Secretive Behavior 

Complicating the situation is the Lack of Transparency from the office of Marc Miller surrounding the steps that led from consulting to signing a technical agreement. 

Only after several weeks of pressure, CIRNAC issued a  Media Release announcing the contract, followed by an announcement by ICMP.

The Call Came From Inside The House

ICMP states that the Request came from the Indigenous Community but fails to identify which specific community. This position confirms one of Kim Murray’s concerns regarding ICMP’s lack of understanding of our diverse ethnic and cultural Identities—ones with very different perspectives on top of our decision-making capabilities. 

The Anishinabek Nation is a political organization that represents some 39 Onkwehonwe communities. In a Press Release from a regional deputy chief, Travis Boissoneau recognizes the established and Trusting relationships with the existing Indigenous experts. 

Existing Understandings

The technical agreement stipulates that Canada is the exclusive owner of any reports submitted by the ICMP. Thus leaving the Right to Publish or withhold any elements of the report’s results up to Canada alone. 

The ICMP does have a Memorandum Of Understanding with the International Criminal Court   Or ICC, which is responsible for dealing with acts of Genocide.  The question left to consider is, “Does this MOU supersede any agreement that the ICMP makes with other governments or The agency acting on its behalf?” 

It is abundantly clear that if Onkwehonwe are not leading the process or cannot access information about themselves or their family members, the entire investigation will be a catastrophic failure. 

When we know more, so will you. 

Nya: wen kowa

Onkwahwentsiyo

Let’s Talk Land: Arrowdale

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Tuesday, November 15th

At the inaugural meeting of the recently elected council for Tsi Tkanatahere, individuals peacefully assembled to speak about homelessness. At the same time, others also gathered to challenge the sale of precious Green Space.

Listen to the Story Here

History, Onkwahwentsiyo

The Bonafide Oneidas of The Thames

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The Oneida Nation is one of five nations with an ancient binding relationship with each other. However, like other Nations, the post-contact period has this nation situated in a confined territory, as indicated on maps which forced European private property concepts. 

Like Many Nations, Oneidas Rotated Villages

When Oneidas were faced with resettlement efforts, relocating was based on preference. According to historical records; decisions were made with three distinct parties in addition to those who chose to remain.

A Retelling

One hundred eighty-two years ago, on October 9th, 1840, some 242 men, women and children travelled the Erie Canal to board a ferry at Buffalo. Stepping off a Ferry in Port Stanley, they started to walk to their newly purchased land.

The Bonafide Oneidas paid $41.00 each towards purchasing some 5,500 acres along the Thames river.

The proceeds were from coerced sales of their land in what is now called New York State. The province of Canada acted as a broker and did not purchase the land for them. Purchasing of their land placed the Bonafide Oneidas in a unique position. However, It raises the question of why the Federal and Provincial governments are interfering in their matters.

People of the standing stone

The move did not make the Oneida immigrants as history suggests; in fact, Payment was an act of diplomacy to share territory that served as hunting grounds.

The Oneida occupied settlements in Napanee called Ganneious before the Messassauga occupation in 1696. The area had also already been included in Earlier Negotiations providing a kick back for the second negotiators

 

Tracing The Steps of Our Ancestors

Participants of Anniversary Walk. Photo Yakowennahskats

Recently, that anniversary was celebrated by the descendants of some of those very same people. They were starting off in a north-westerly direction from Port Stanley, just as their ancestors did on that autumn day all those years ago. 

…They agreed and told us we need to decide who is Bonafide and who isn’t

Darryl Chrisjohn

 “the ones who were last to come did not pay for the settlement like our families did, and it caused a bunch of bad trouble, and then that’s when they did a roll call of the names and had a general council meeting, Bonafide Oneidas attended that meeting then they made membership list sent to the government they agreed and told us we need to decide who is Bonafide and who isn’t” … Explains Darryl Chrisjohn who completed the walk. 

Marking a clear delineation between incorporated  Canadian entities Controlling Band membership and the original membership controlled exclusively by the Bonafide Oneida. 

Standing at the Same Height

Image taken from Facebook

Chrisjohn is evident when he speaks about the Bonafide Oneidas as not being in a hierarchical authority but as those descendants actively upholding agreements with deep roots in Onkwehonweneha over those who are negotiating as arms of a foreign government, including HDI. 

Several chapters are yet to be discussed, but this is a starting point. 

History

Old News: Act Threatens Extinction Of Indian People?

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The article originally appeared in the Ottawa Citizen in 1951.

A three-man delegation from the Six Nation Indian reservation near Brantford warned here yesterday that the passage of the Indian Act in its present revised form would threaten the Indian people with extinction In two years.

They said If the act became law, the Indians across Canada would become “bitter enemies” of the present federal government. The delegation centred Its fire on the compulsory enfranchisement clause of the act.

Under this clause, a government-appointed committee may enfranchise an Indian whether or not he has applied for such enfranchisement.

Once he Is given the vote, the Indian loses special reservation rights such as free schooling, free hospitalization and exemption from taxes.

The delegation objected to Section 4 of the Act giving the minister, in this case, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Walter Harris, unlimited powers with no recourse of appeal.

Criticism was also voiced to the provision under which an Indian who asks for the vote must sign a waiver eliminating his exemption from taxation.

Members of the delegations, who saw Mr. Harris, were: E. P. Garlow, chief councillor of the Six Nation Indian Council; A. C. Moses, council secretary; and James Powless, councillor.

Onkwahwentsiyo

Mohawks Revealing Their Hidden History

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The Kanatso:ronon are members of the Kanienkehaka Nation, whose traditional territory includes, and is not limited to, the geographical region of Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec. 

The Kanienkehaka of Kana:tso have obtained archaeological evidence, as well as documented records of past events and times that support the assertion of Indigenous, property, and civil rights. 

Woodland Pottery Shards: Yakowennahskats

Before written history, legal and living memory, the Kanatso:ronon hunted and harvested on their inherited geographical hunting grounds. The Kanienkehaka of Kana:tso were an organized society of Indigenous families who inhabited and controlled their Indian village.

The Kana:tso village is recorded historically and furnished medical supplies by the Department of the Secretary of State, “Indian Branch.” The historical rights bearing village precedes and followed petitioned Indian Reserves, a creation of the Crown under the Indian Act. 

The Kana:tso habitation was last recorded on the north shore of the Ottawa River, south of Laurier Ave, adjacent to their ancestral burial ground in Gatineau, Quebec. The village burial ground was unearthed and desecrated in 1843, slighting its spiritual significance to nation members.

Disbanded?

Canadian law stripped the community of identity through disbandment to support advancing European settlement. The Provincial Court set an eviction date for Apr 15, 1903. 

The Crown of England was entrusted with the fiduciary responsibility to protect the nation’s rights, interests, and inherited land at Kana:tso. Unsurprisingly, the Crown failed to protect the vested interest of these Mohawks. 

After disbanding, the community struggled to continue culturally and spiritually and have their fundamental rights acknowledged. Subsequently, certain afflicted Kanatso:ronon moved blocks away in the Township of Hull, while others remained adjacent to the Ottawa River on the property of the Kana:tso village. 

Hidden in Plain Sight

The historical habitation of Kanatso:ronon now supports Jaques Cartier Park and the Museum of History and is presently controlled by the National Capital Commission. The historical hunting grounds of the Kanatso:ronon now supports the present-day cities of Ottawa, Ontario, and Gatineau, Quebec.

Photo provided

Joseph Cole, pictured above, was an identified Kana:tso community member who was born in the Indigenous village circa 1872, following an exceedingly severe epidemic of Smallpox, just a few years after that confederation. 

Cole was raised by kin Kanatso:ronon in Hull and learned much about his traditional lands. After the nations disbanding in 1903, Joseph Cole, his wife, and his offspring continued to live at his residence south of Laurier Ave, adjacent to the Ottawa River.

We’re Still Here

Cole shared a collective inherited right through the traditional customs of his ancestors, including culture, righteousness, and land at Kana:tso.

Jason Arbour

My name is Jason (Rotisken’rakehte) Arbour, Appointed Chief and Legal Representative of Kana:tso Kaniengehaga First Nation. In 1903 my family/band was disbanded from our Indian reserve and place of origin at Gatineau, Quebec. To date, I have been chosen to raise awareness and respectfully represent our community’s legal interest to re-establish our historical rights to our traditional territory at the Chaudiere Falls. 
I am indigenous to the Ottawa-Hull region of Canada. I was born and raised in Ottawa and happily married with five boys and two grandaughters.

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