The
Kahnawake MohawkMohawk" are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada...
Territory ( in
MohawkMohawk is a Native American language spoken by the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. In schools of northern New York particularly in Native American Reservations Native American Languages are taught depending on the tribe in the...
,
Kahnawáˀkye in
TuscaroraTuscarora, sometimes called Skarure, is an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario, Canada, and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls, in the United States. The original homeland of the Tuscarora was in eastern North Carolina, in and around the Goldsboro,...
) is an
Indian reserveIn Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, across from
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
. It has also been known as Fort St. Louis, Caughnawaga and 17 other
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an variations of Kahnawake. The only clue to the location of Indian Reserve # 14 on 1960s government maps of southern Quebec is its blank
cartographyCartography is the study and practice of making geographical maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. Kahnawake is natural territory totalling an area of 48.05 square kilometres.
The
Kahnawake MohawkMohawk" are an indigenous people of North America originally from the Mohawk Valley in upstate New York to southern Quebec and eastern Ontario. Their current settlements include areas around Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River in Canada...
Territory ( in
MohawkMohawk is a Native American language spoken by the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. In schools of northern New York particularly in Native American Reservations Native American Languages are taught depending on the tribe in the...
,
Kahnawáˀkye in
TuscaroraTuscarora, sometimes called Skarure, is an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people, spoken in southern Ontario, Canada, and northwestern New York around Niagara Falls, in the United States. The original homeland of the Tuscarora was in eastern North Carolina, in and around the Goldsboro,...
) is an
Indian reserveIn Canada, an Indian reserve is specified by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." The Act also specifies that land reserved for the use and benefit of a band which is not...
on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River in
QuebecQuebec is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking identity and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
,
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, across from
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
. It has also been known as Fort St. Louis, Caughnawaga and 17 other
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
an variations of Kahnawake. The only clue to the location of Indian Reserve # 14 on 1960s government maps of southern Quebec is its blank
cartographyCartography is the study and practice of making geographical maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of cartography are to:*Set the map's...
. Kahnawake is natural territory totalling an area of 48.05 square kilometres. Its resident population numbers about 8,000 with a significant number off the territory. Its land base today is unevenly distributed due to archaic federal
Indian ActThe Indian Act , R.S., 1985, c. I-5, is a Canadian statute that concerns registered Indians , their bands, and the system of Indian reserves...
law that oversees individual land possession unlike the Canadian norms that apply to the land around it. Kahnawake has used the
English languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
keeping its
Mohawk languageMohawk is a Native American language spoken by the Mohawk nation in the United States and Canada. It is part of the Iroquoian family. In schools of northern New York particularly in Native American Reservations Native American Languages are taught depending on the tribe in the...
intact while maintaining a life surrounded by 2 million
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
-speaking Quebecers. Culture and language have long memories and deep roots for both Mohawk and French-speaking Quebecers.
Although most individuals refer to residents of Kahnawake as "Mohawks," they call themselves Kanien’kehá:ka (the "People of the Flint"). Mohawk, which means "eaters of flesh" or "man-eaters" in the Algonquian languages, was popularized in the European languages by the Dutch, who first met them in the 17th Century.
Major construction projects
The federal and Quebec governments have historically located large
civil engineeringCivil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works such as bridges, roads, canals, dams and buildings...
projects benefiting the southern Quebec economy through Kahnawake lands. Criss-crossed by
power lineElectric power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, a process in the delivery of electricity to consumers. A power transmission network typically connects power plants to multiple substations near a populated area...
s from hydroelectric plants,
railRail transport is the conveyance of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles running along railways or railroads. Rail transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates international trade and economic growth...
and vehicle
highwayA highway is a main road for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and states. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated motorway. In English and U.S...
s and
bridgeA bridge is a structure built to span a valley, road, body of water, or other physical obstacle, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle. Designs of bridges vary depending on the function of the bridge and the nature of the terrain where the bridge is constructed.-History:The first...
s, the decision to pass the
Saint Lawrence SeawayThe St. Lawrence Seaway is the common name for a system of canals that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, as far as Lake Superior. Legally it extends from Montreal to Lake Erie, including the Welland Canal and the locks at Sault Ste....
canalCanals are artificial channels for water. There are two types of canal: aqueduct canals are used for the conveyance and delivery of water, and waterway canals are navigable transportation canals used for passage of goods and people, often connected to existing lakes, rivers, or oceans.The word...
cut through its village permanently separated it from its natural river shore.
One of the first of these projects was the fledgling
Canadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway , known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a Canadian Class I railway operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited. Its rail network stretches from Vancouver to Montreal, and also serves major cities in the United States such as Minneapolis, Chicago, and New York City...
's Saint Lawrence Bridge. The masonry work was done by Reid & Fleming, and the steel superstructure was built by the
Dominion Bridge CompanyDominion Bridge Company Limited was a Canadian steel bridge constructor originally based in Lachine, Quebec. From the core business of steel bridge component fabrication, the company diversified into related areas such as the fabrication of holding tanks for pulp mills and skyscraper framing.Other...
. In 1886 and 1887, the new bridge was built across the broad river from Kahnawake to Montreal Island, and gave Kahnawake working men an opportunity to perform as fearless bridgemen and
ironworkerIronworker was originally a brand name for a machine which can shear, notch, and punch holes in steel plate. The brand has now become a generic name for machines of this type....
s. This was the result of a perception by construction companies that the Mohawk men had no fear of heights when given the chance to climb hundreds of feet above the water and ground. Here started the legendary
stereotypeA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
that has now labelled all
Native AmericansThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
as having no fear of heights.
Location
Kahnawake is ideally located at the narrowing southwest shore of the St. Lawrence River. The territory is described in its native language as "on, or by the rapids" (of the
Saint Lawrence RiverThe Saint Lawrence River is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage of the Great Lakes Basin...
), giving points of reference to its original depth and claim along the original natural rapids of the old and different river. The modern day location of Kahnawake did serve for a while the interests of the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
colony in
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
by forming a western defence for Ville-Marie (later Montreal), making the military
garrisonGarrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, of more than 50 men, but now often simply using it as a home base. The station is usually a city, town, fort, castle or similar...
and its
JesuitThe Society of Jesus is a Catholic religious order of clerks regular whose members are called Jesuits.Jesuits are the largest male religious order in the Catholic Church, with 18,815 members—13,305 priests, 2,295 scholastic students, 1,758 brothers and 827 novices—as of January 2008, although the...
mission both its early warning sentinel and religious launch site for canoes taking
priestA priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities. Their office or position is the priesthood, a term which may also apply to such persons collectively.Priests and priestesses...
s in a western direction. Jesuit records write a settlement date of 1719, while Mohawk oral tradition extends much further into the past claiming a Mohawk settlement date some 10,000 years earlier.
Gambling/gaming
The
Kahnawake Gaming CommissionThe Kahnawake Gaming Commission is an organisation that licenses a large number of online casinos and online poker rooms. It was established in 1996 and is based in Kahnawake 14, Quebec....
offers
gamblingGambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods. Typically, the outcome of the wager is evident within a short period....
licenses to Internet-based
pokerPoker is a sport from the family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bets and how many rounds of betting are allowed...
,
casinoA casino is a facility that houses and accommodates certain types of gambling activities. Casinos are most commonly built near or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships and other tourist attractions...
, and
sportsbookIn the United States a sportsbook or a race and sports book is a place where a gambler can wager on various sports competitions, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, horse racing, boxing, and mixed martial arts. The method of betting varies with the sport and the type of...
sites and has established Kahnawake as a substantial player in that business. Many sites are hosted and managed by Mohawk Internet Technologies (MIT), a local
data centerA data center or datacenter , also called a server farm,is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
located within the territory. MIT is the closest and fastest source for "legally hosted" gambling websites for their
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
n players.
Politics
It has not known the political turmoil that has affected the nearby
KanesatakeKanehsatake is a Mohawk community on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains in southwestern Quebec, Canada, near Montreal.In addition to the Kanesatake lands, the Doncaster 17 Indian Reserve also belongs to the Mohawks of Kanesatake....
Mohawk reserve; however, people from Kahnawake blocked the
Honoré Mercier BridgeThe Honoré Mercier Bridge in Quebec, Canada, connects the Montreal borough of LaSalle on the Island of Montreal with the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River. It carries Route 138, originally Route 4. It is in length and contains four steel trusses on its...
to Montreal during the
Oka CrisisThe Oka Crisis was a land dispute between the Mohawk nation and the town of Oka, Quebec which began on July 11, 1990, and lasted until September 26, 1990...
in 1990, because they were denied access to Kanesatake through Montreal by the
Sûreté du QuébecThe Sûreté du Québec or SQ is Quebec's national police force of Quebec...
. Both the Canadian and Quebec governments dispute the legality of Kahnawake's gambling operations, but have not risked taking further action due to the harsh international repercussions that followed the Oka Crisis. The websites hosted within Kahnawake are the only privately owned gambling sites that have operated in continental
North AmericaNorth America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and in the western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the North Pacific...
without legal action being taken against them.
Fifty men from Kahnawake volunteered to fight with the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
armed forces in
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
.
International use of flag
In 2007, two vessels operated by the
Sea Shepherd Conservation SocietyThe Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is a non-profit environmental organization based in Friday Harbor, Washington in the United States and in Melbourne, Australia for its Southern Hemisphere operations. Established in 1977, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is an international non-profit, marine...
flew the Kahnawake Mohawk flag , which made the Kahnawake Mohawk nation the only indigenous American sovereign nation to have deep-sea foreign-going vessels flying their flag. However, since December 2007 the Sea Shepherd vessels have been registered in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
.
Notable residents
- Alwyn Morris
Alwyn Morris, CM is a Canadian sprint canoer who competed in the 1980s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won two medals at Los Angeles in 1984 with a gold in the K-2 1000 m and a bronze in the K-2 500 m events....
Won a gold medal for Canada at the 1984 Olympics1984 Olympics refers to both:*The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia*The 1984 Summer Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles, California...
in Canoe/Kayak (K2)
- Dwayne Zacharie Current Chief of Police, and former member of the Canadian National Freestyle Wrestling team, winning several FILA world championship medals
- Waneek Horn-Miller Was the Co-Captain of the Canadian National Womens Water Polo team at the 2000 Olympics
- Chief Don Eagle - Former AWA World Wrestling champion, gaining the title in 1950
- Billy Two Rivers
Billy Two Rivers , born May 5, 1935, is a retired Canadian professional wrestler. He began wrestling professionally in 1953 and competed until 1977. During his career, he wrestled in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and Canada. After retiring from wrestling, he became a leader of the...
- Former pro wrestler and Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Councillor.
- Mary Two Axe Early-1911-1996. Champion of Native Women's rights, she played a major role in having Bill C-31 implemented in Canada. Honorary Doctorate, Order of Canada, Order of Quebec, Aboriginal Achievement Award, Governor General's Award.
- Kateri Tekakwitha
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha or Blessed Catherine Tekakwitha , the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and a Catholic Algonquin woman, was born in the Mohawk fortress of Ossernenon near present-day Auriesville, New York. When she was four, smallpox swept through Ossernenon, and Tekakwitha was left with...
1656-1680-Beatified on June 22, 1980 by Pope John Paul II.
- Louis Jackson - 1843-?. Author of "Our Caughnawaga's in Egypt: A Narrative of what was seen and accomplished by the contingent of North American Indian voyageurs who led the British boat expedition for the relief of Khartoum up the cataracts of the Nile" (1885).
- Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate) Noted Mohawk poet http://www.ipl.org/div/natam/bin/browse.pl/A18. American Book Award winner. 1981.
Media
Kahnawake has several media outlets in the community:
- The Eastern Door, an award winning newspaper that publishes each Friday
- K103 Radio, a radio station serving the community for over 25 years -
- Mohawk TV/Loud Spirit Productions, a television company that features weekly programing as well as a reality show.
- Mohawk Radio, an Internet based radio station, which received an award for its junior hockey broadcasts.
- The Mohawk Council of Kahnawake Communications Department, produces "Kwatokent TV," a bi-weekly informational program
- Iorì:wase News, an online newspaper from the Kanien’kéhá:ka Nation
- CKRK-FM
CKRK-FM is an English-language Canadian radio station located in Kahnawake, Quebec, a Mohawk Indian reserve near Montreal.It broadcasts on 103.7 MHz with an effective radiated power of 250 watts using an omnidirectional antenna. The transmitter is aging and based on recent measurements the...
Mohawk Radio
Schools
- Kahnawake Survival School; high school.
- Kateri School; elementary school.
- Karonhianonhnha School; elementary school.
- Indian Way School; elementary school.
- Karihwanoron Mohawk Immersion School; elementary school.
- Step By Step Child and Family Centre; early learning/nursery.
- Kahnawake Learning Centre.
External links