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Exploring Colonialism in a Canadian Context
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How Colonization affected the Kanyen'kehà:ka First Nations peoples
Lauren Chamberlain
Pre colonization
Kanyen'kehà:ka also known as Mohawk First Nations . They are the easternmost member of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy also known as Iroquois.
Pre colonization
Members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy
Traditional life
Traditionally Mohawk First Nations peoples lived in long houses. Longhouses villages housed around 1000 or more people. They lived off their land. Farming and sustaining themselves off what they called the three sisters, corn, beans and squash. Their traditional territory stretches from what is now considered upstate New York to Southern Ontario. The establishment of their traditional land predates the US-Canada border. So a few communities straddle the borders.
Traditional life
Traditional territory
Longhouse
Religion and Spirituality
Colonization greatly affected Kanyen'kehà:ka First Nations religion and spirituality. Many were converted to Christianity due to colonization. Before Christianity, Mohawk people had multiple traditional belief systems including the Handsome Lake Religion. In this religion, ceremonies were held in traditional longhouses. It included rites such as the Great Feather dance, drinking strawberry juice and performed public confessions of amoral lapses.
Religion and Spirituality
The 16th century
During the beginning of colonization Mohawk First Nations peoples were very involved in the fur trade and political conflicts.
The 16th century
1600-1650
~ May 26th,1603 Samuel de Champlain took his first step in New France in Tasoussac on the north shore of the St.Lawerence River.
The execution of the Jesuits
~The Huron-Wendat and Algonquin First Nations peoples allied with the French to drive out the Mohawk. In 1609-1610 with the help of Samuel de Champlain they were able to successfully defeat the Mohawk peoples. So the Mohawk peoples relocated and drove out the Michans, Claiming Mohawk valley and gaining access to the Dutch traders of Fort Orange.
1600-1650
Samuel de Champlain
~1640 by now the beaver fur has run out so the Mohawk peoples find a solution by plundering fur ships headed to trade with the French
~1645 the Mohawk peoples and New France came to a truce.
~March 16th 1649, two Jesuit missionaries, Jean de Brébeuf and Charles Lalement were killed by the Haudenosaunee.
1650-1700
~The Kanyen'kehà:ka and Onöndowàga peoples attempted to reclaim their territory from the Huron-Wendat.
~Fall 1666, Mohawk villages were burned by the French. Then the French pushed for peace. Declining their offer. the Mohawk and New France broke out in war again.
1650-1700
~January 22nd 1690, the Haudenosaunee Peace Treaty with the English and the Great lakes tribes was concluded.
~1693, Mohawk villages were burned.
The 17th century
~1701, treaties of peace and neutrality were negotiated between the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the French and the English.
The 17th
century
~As French allies, Catholic Kanyen'kehà:ka aided greatly in Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704 and again at Gorton, Massachusetts in 1707.
~1761, the Mohawk peoples wrote to Britain about their living conditions, the rules that threaten their livelihood and the right to their land. All requests were ignored by Britain. Over the next 150 years, the Mohawk peoples would contest for their land eight more times which would all be rejected.
The 18th century
1800-1870
~January 1, 1851, Lord Elgin, governor general of Canada was petitioned by the Mohawk peoples for the right to their land. He denied their request.
The 18th century
~January 1 1853, reserves are established at Maniwaki and Doncaster by the Province of Canada. The Mohawk and Algonquin peoples were requested to move to that area.
Lord Elgin
Established reserves
~June 10th 1857, The Gradual Civilization Act requires male Status Indians and Métis over the age of 21 to read, write and speak either English or French, and to choose a government-approved surname. It awards 50 acres of land to any “sufficiently advanced” Indigenous male, and in return removes any tribal affiliation or treaty rights.
~January 1 1868, the Mohawk's original land grant was denied by the government of the new Dominion of Canada.
1870-1900
~April 12th 1876, the Indian Act was installed with the goal to assimilate all First Nations peoples into Euro-Canadian culture.
The pines
~January 1 1881, a reserve in Gibson, Ontario was offered to the Mohawk peoples by the federal government. Only about one-third of Mohawk peoples moved.
1870-1900
~April 19th 1884, residential schools were created.
~1886-1897, the Mohawks of Kanesatake planted around 100 000 pine trees with the supervision of priest Joseph-Daniel Lefebvre of Oka village.
The 19th century
1900-1960
~January 1 1912, the Quebec Superior court, the Court of King's bench and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council heard the Mohawk's of Kanesatake’s land case. It is decided that the title of the land was held by the Sulpicians, the people that "owned" the land during the 16th and 17th century. The Kanesatake reserve was consider an “interim land base” by the federal government.
The 19th century
~April 1 1920, mandatory attendance at residential schools was put in place.
~1936, the land is sold and not returned to the Mohawk peoples. The Mohawks of Kanesatake once held 687 km2 of land. Now they were confined to 6 km2.
~1959, parts of the Pines were rented to the Club de Golf. In 1961, without the consent of the Mohawk a 9-hole golf course is bulit.
~1960, the sixties scoop occurred. The sixties scoop was the removal of First Nations children from their homes. Then these kids were adopted into mostly non-Indigenous families from Canada to the US.
1960- 1990
~1968, demands that the federal government recognize Jay's treaty, a treaty that allows First Nations from Canada to work and live freely in the US. The Mohawk peoples push these demands by protesting and forming a blockade on the Seaway International Bridge between Cornwall, Ontario, and New York State.
~1975, a land claim by the Mohawk people of Kahnawake attempting to claim Aboriginal title of their land was denied. Based off the fact that they had not held on to the land continuously.
the Seaway International Bridge
1960-1990
~June 1 1988, the Kahnawake reserve is stormed by 200 RCMP constables for alleged smuggled cigarette sale. The Mohawk peoples block highways and take over the Mercer Bridge in response.
Mohawk protests
~March 1 1989, expansion of the golf course on Mohawk burial grounds was announced. In July, Mohawk peoples protest for weeks. Oka Mayor Jean Ouellette issues a postponement after being called by the federal government.
1990/the Oka crisis
~8:30 am SQ officers jump over the barricade chasing fleeing Mohawks. Close to 9 am a gun fight occurs. SQ Corporal Marcel Lemay was killed. The officers retreat, abandoning their vehicles on the way.
~March 1990, the green light is given for the construction of the golf course. So Mohawk peoples built a barricade on chemain de Millieu, a road which connected to highway 344.
~April 26 1990, the Quebec Superior court orders that the Mohawk peoples take down the barricade.
~July 12 1990, the federal government reject the Mohawks demands. Which included title to the disputed land being used for the golf course expansion; the withdrawal of all police from Kanesatake and Kahnawake; two days to move freely in and out of Kanesatake and Kahnawake; and arbitration of all disputes by the World Court at the Hague.
1990
~July 5 1990, A warning is given by the Quebec government that action will ensue if the barricade is not removed. More Mohawk peoples join in and the amount of SQ officers increased.
~August 5 1990, 48-hours is given to Mohawks to dismantle the barricade by Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa.
~July 10 1990, the night before a SQ raid, the Mohawks are tipped off about the raid. So they fortify their defensive and set up booby traps, such as fish hooks on knee-high branches and trip lines tied to cans.
~August 20 1990, 4000 soldiers surround Kanesatake and Kahnawake, in addition they bring armored military vehicles, helicopters, artillery, navy vessels on the St. Lawrence River, and other equipment. This was called Operation Salon.
~July 11 1990, 5:15 am 100 SQ demand to talk the Mohawk representatives by walking into the pines. A 45 minute negotiation follows.
~August 21 1990, the Mohawk peoples create new demands. Which included none of them be arrested; that the Quebec and Canadian governments recognize the Mohawk people in Quebec, Ontario and New York state as a unified, sovereign nation; and that the federal government buy the disputed lands in Kanesatake and create a proper reserve for the Mohawk.
~7;30 am, tear gas and concussion grenades are fired at the barricade.
1990-2000
~August 27 1990, negotiations are ended and Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa and the Canadian Army declare the barricades will be removed.
~August 28 1990, government officials evacuate the remaining residents in Oka. Mohawk women, children and elders also evacuate Kahnawake in a convoy. Anger mobs throw rocks at them.
1990-2000
~August 29 1990, An agreement is reached to take down the barricade at Mercer bridge it takes eight days.
~September 2 1990, the main barricade on highway 344 is dismantled by the Army.
~September 18 1990, Twenty-two soldiers are injured, along with 75 Mohawk, ranging in age from five to 72. When the SQ land on the outskirts of Kahnawake they are met with hundreds of Mohawk peoples. The soldiers fire tear gas and warning shots, and assault Mohawk with the butts of their rifles.
~September 29 1990 The Armed Forces withdraw.
The 20th century
~June 14 2001, the federal government purchased the pines during the crisis and the golf course expansion was canceled.
The 20th
century
~June 2001, the land was confirmed to be reserved for the Mohawks of Kanesatake by the Kanesatake Interim Land Base Governance Act. But the land was not establish as a reserve and there been no organized transfer of the land to the Mohawk people.