Kateri's Narrative

Source:  https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1329333584407/1329333802557#chp4

1. Kateri (from a Mohawk community in Quebec)

Kateri is my name, and my personality pretty much matches my name, which means nature. I love being in nature; in the summer you can never find me inside and I rely mostly on myself. For me, nothing can come close to the feeling I get when I'm by myself, outside on the mountain or down by the river. I'm 16 and people think I'm a party girl, because I like to go to the parties down by the river, but I'm really more of a dreamer inside. I can also be a little too direct and opinionated sometimes, and then I feel bad afterward.

I was born here on the reserve, and I live with my mom and stepdad, two younger sisters and like a million cats. One of my sisters, Onwari, is crazy about cats and seriously has about 10 of them. She's almost 15 and even though we're different in some ways, we're pretty close. She's a bookworm and you can find her either reading or playing with all those cats. As a family, we get along OK. We have our ups and downs like any family. We talk a lot and argue sometimes over dinner. My mom is from here, but my real dad is French Canadian. We did have a relationship, but that's another story. My mom's family is pretty traditional and they all speak Mohawk. My mom stays home with my youngest sister, and my stepdad works at a factory.

I go to the high school here. On a typical weekday I get up (I'm late for school), go to school, come home, eat something, do homework, watch TV or go to friends' houses sometimes. It's pretty much like that every weekday. I like my school, but it would be better if there were more students. I mean, maybe not better for our education, but it would make it more interesting. I used to go to the youth centre a lot when I was younger. It's only open on the weekdays though.My mom wants to talk to the band council to ask them to keep the youth centre open on the weekends, so Onwari has somewhere to go besides her friends' houses all the time.

On weekends, I like to go to the river or the mountain (well it's more like a big hill). There are some great views from there. We get there by driving on a four-wheeler. And sometimes, there are parties down at the river that some parents think are too wild! Then I sleep in too late on Saturday. Typical teenager I guess. Some parents don't allow kids to go on four-wheelers or to the parties at the river, but my mom lets me go. She knows that I know how to take care of myself. In the community, there's also an ice rink and gym. There's not too many other places to go though.

I baby-sit my cousin's kids on the weekends too. I like kids, even if they can sometimes be annoying. It's fun to take them outside and play in the snow with them. We visit my mother's side of the family. Onwari especially likes that. She's more of a homebody than me. She and Grandma like to sit and watch TV and movies together. Me, I'd rather be outside ice fishing or on a snowmobile in the winter. In the summer, which is my favourite season, I'm never inside. I love the sun. Usually, I invite people to the pool. We also go to the beach, go boating, play football, swim, play volleyball and do stuff like that. Some kids like to drag race and drive around on four-wheelers too.

Our culture is very important to us, especially to the Elders¹. I don't think it's as important to the new generation. They don't realize how important it is. I do though. I wish I'd learned more about my culture when I was younger. I've already lost some things I used to know, like the language.

Our language — Mohawk — is really important to the survival of our culture. I used to speak Mohawk when I was younger, almost fluently, because I went to a Mohawk immersion school. But then I switched schools and focussed on French and lost Mohawk. My father, who is French Canadian, really wanted me to learn French. Now that I am old enough to choose my culture, I choose my Mohawk culture. Right now, I only speak a few words of Mohawk and understand some of what the Elders say to me. It's very important to know what the Elders say since they are trying to pass on the culture, like the beliefs and values. Most of the Elders are fluent in Mohawk. My grandparents speak it and my youngest sister does too, since she is in a Mohawk immersion school. I wish now that I could speak it. I wish I hadn't lost it, because I want to teach my children the language. It's who I am. It makes me sad sometimes, because then I think that if this is who I am, then I don't know enough. Hopefully, I can learn it better someday.

I think that fighting for our education is worth it. Education is important, so you can get a job easier and get somewhere in life. Seeing as it is my second-to-last year of high school, I see myself continuing to go to school. As for my friends, well, that's their decision, not mine. My goal as a student is to continue school and go into law. My teachers said I'd be good at it, because I like to argue a lot! I'll probably travel back and forth from my community to go to school. I plan on remaining in the community after I graduate. I want my children to be raised in their culture, knowing what and who they are. It's funny; even though my sister, Onwari, is the one who seems like the homebody, she's also the one who thinks she won't always live here. I'll bet that when she has kids she'll change her mind and come back. Maybe living outside our community isn't what she thinks it will be.

Also, sometimes I wish there were more cultural activities with the whole community, so younger people can participate in dancing and singing. The last community activity was two summers ago. Right now, there's not enough money to deal with issues in the community. We need more money for education. It's a big problem, because they need to teach more about the culture. Cultural events teach us who we are. Also, there's not enough to do around here. More recreational and cultural programs would help youth stay out of trouble. There's some youth here who are in a lot of trouble. They'd be occupied if there were more cultural activities, and it would help them to have more self-respect if they knew who they were.

I want to continue the Aboriginal culture when I have children but, sometimes, I worry I won't know enough. Our generation is what the next generation is going to look up to, and if the generation before us doesn't teach us our culture, then how will we pass it on? The younger generation pushes aside our culture and it's not right. Some people think we're going to lose our identity; we're being overpowered by the non-Aboriginal culture. I think we need to bring back the language, traditions, dances, socials and stuff like that.

I did learn some things about my culture from my school. I learned Mohawk songs and dances and how to make rattles². Also, my grandparents know a lot about our culture. It's like they're a big book or something. I really admire them. They pass on some of the values Mohawks consider the most important, like being generous, kind-hearted, responsible, thankful, loyal and honest.

One of my favourite things about my culture is how we're taught that everything on the Earth is to be respected. It's an important part of the culture and covers everything. That includes respecting yourself. For example, if you asked me who the most important person in my life is, I would say myself. I don't mean to sound like I have a big head, but if you can't respect yourself, then who will respect you? Respecting yourself is one of the most important things my culture has taught me. Also, the land, water, plants, air and animals are all very important to our culture and need to be respected. Without any of it, what would we be? My grandmother says that even in our dances, we show how close we are to Mother Earth. She says that, as women, we should never lift our feet when we're dancing the ceremonial dances. She says our feet should always be touching Mother Earth.

The land is so important to us that we were even willing to fight for it. In 1990, there was a big crisis, now called the Oka Crisis³, because some white people wanted to take more of our land — land that was sacred to us. It happened exactly where our school is now. I was very little, only three years old. My mother and grandparents told me about it. You hear a lot about it still in the community. I don't remember much, but I do remember bits and pieces of it. One of the soldiers during that stand-off asked me to state my name, but I wouldn't, because he was a soldier from the other side — the enemy soldier I guess you could say. To be honest, I don't consider myself to be a Canadian. I'm a Mohawk.

If a non-Aboriginal person wanted to learn more about us, they should ask a real Mohawk what we're like. I don't think non-Aboriginal Canadians know much about our culture, because they see all sorts of things that aren't true from TV (like the media and cartoons), movies and books. They're judging us from stuff that's made up. Either they think that all we do is sell cigarettes and all sorts of things, or they think we're still living like a long time ago.

It's good to learn about other cultures. A non-Aboriginal person might want to learn about how we live and what we're like. We're not that different. Yeah, we're different in some ways, but we're all people. Maybe they'd like to know our traditions and how we cope with everyday life. We don't get everything for free, and we struggle, especially for education. They should realize that we're real people. Non-Aboriginal people learn about how we used to live, not how we live now. We live in houses not teepees; we wear clothes, not leather. We work. Don't believe everything you hear about us.

Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people have pretty different ideas of what community means. Aboriginal people see community like a big family and it's really important to us. Everyone knows everyone and we trust everyone — pretty much. In non-Aboriginal cultures, it seems like people only feel like that with their own families. We're a very small community here, but we know who we are and we know everyone that's around us. For myself, I'm used to my community. It's where I grew up.

I have a lot of opinions about our community. (I told you I'm opinionated!) Overall, I really like my community, but that doesn't mean we can't make some things better. I don't pay so much attention to politics, but I do think the band council doesn't listen to the community enough or focus on the community's needs. The band council is not completely self-governing now, but if it was, it shouldn't be only them deciding. To me, self-government means the power to decide the important decisions and laws controlling our community. The community needs to choose what's best on its own behalf. Without us — the community — then what's the point of having a council? That's the way I look at it. We also need better leaders to be role models for everybody, especially for the youth. They're trying though. Good leaders in our community would be people who are in touch with their community and listen to the Elders and the youth to hear everyone's opinion. They would be kind, well-educated, have self-respect and most of all, be honest.

If someone came to visit us who was Aboriginal, but from a different community, I'd show them the differences between our community and theirs. If they were a non-Aboriginal person, I'd introduce them to someone who knows how to speak Mohawk. I'd also show them the scenery — the water, land and pines. It's really beautiful here. If they were my age or a little younger I might also take them to the youth centre.

After everything I've just said, I think that for us as Mohawk, if we don't fight back for what we know and who we are and really learn our culture, then we'll become non-Aboriginal. It's slowly happening now. More and more people don't know what they represent — what it means to be Aboriginal. For me, I would like to know my culture, who I stand for and my roots. There are a lot of cultural things I don't know. For example, I lost my language. I don't know as much as I should know about who I am. As long as we have our language though, then the land is ours. Like the Elders say, if we lose our language then we've lost who we are, what we represent. It's like we're giving up everything or slowly we're giving up. I'm not going to give up.