Text & Photos : Ninka North
“At the bottom of the mountain”
Kanehsatà:ke, whose name means “At the bottom of the mountain”, is located in the Laurentians, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and Lake of Two Mountains. The Kanehsatà:ke Pow Wow takes place on a tree-shaded area on the Ste-Philomene road in mid-July. The pow wow is hosted by the Buffalo Hat Singers, a drumming group founded by Norman Achneepineskum and consisting of six drummers from several nations. It is usually held in mid-July.
The inhabitants of Kanehsatà:ke are the descendants of hundreds of Iroquois, most of whom were evangelized from Montreal (late 1660s). Their displacement led to the creation of Kahnawà:ke, Kanehsatà:ke and Akwesasne. It was the traditionalist members of the community who had the idea of putting this event back in place as a way of healing for the community in 1991, after the events of Oka. The Oka crisis, as it was nicknamed, was a major crisis that required military reinforcements. It was a golf course expansion and building project on sacred territory that was the prelude to a Mohawk confrontation, the Warriors, with the Canadian Armed Forces in the summer of 1990.
Because of its unique location – Oka municipal lands bordering Mohawk territory – the reserve is the subject of much debate and remains at the heart of many unresolved conflicts. For this reason, the annual Pow Wow is important to each participant as a bond of healing, a medicine that helps to bind the community of which they are a part.
For Kanien’kehá:ka1called “Mohawk”, the pow wow is a strong element of identity. Associated with the sacred, it is a symbol of cultural sovereignty and political autonomy for traditionalists who reject the western mode of governance of the elected Grand Chief. Tensions between progressives and traditionalists are high.
It should be noted that this internal conflict, specific to the Mohawks, affects many other Aboriginal territories, threatened by various energy resource development projects. The Kanyen’kehà:ka have been fighting for their lands and rights for three centuries…