Honouring tradition and sovereignty: A few vote, many don’t in Kanehsatà:ke

Kanehsatà:ke, a Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk) community along the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains 50 km west of Montreal, is known for its political resistance. 

Many Quebeckers know about Kanehsatà:ke for the Kanesatake Resistance - commonly known as the Oka Crisis - when community members resisted the expansion of a golf course onto their unceded land, including a burial ground in 1990. After a 78-day standoff between Kanien'kehá:ka land defenders, Quebec police, the RCMP and the Canadian army, the golf course expansion was nixed, but the land was not returned back to the community - it was purchased by the federal government. Ownership of the land is disputed to this day between the neighbouring town of Oka, Kanehsatà:ke and the federal government. 

Today, this community continues to engage politically - their band council elections are always a heated affair - but much like their fellow Mohawks in Kahnawà:ke, many do not vote in the Canadian election. Kanehsatà:ke’s residents make up about 2,750 people of the 100,600 people in Mirabel, their electoral riding. 

“We don't partake in the white society voting”

Elder Gordie Oke follows Canadian - and American - politics closely but will not be voting in the federal election. 

“It's our belief as Mohawk people that we don't partake in the white society voting, because we found that they've broken promises all along the way,” he says. 

Addressing non-Indigenous Canadians who wonder why Mohawks don’t vote, Oke says: “We're different from you, but we are part of the society. Don't forget, you're the invaders of our land, you know, and governments, religion, courts have always screwed us. So I don’t want to partake in that.”

Oke says that future political promises, like land back or potential political threats to Indigenous rights would not likely push him to vote. 

“Words are just words.... Governments are all about words. [They’ll say] there's a program coming, oh, $20 million, but it's going to be based over 10 years. And then the next government comes in and they can change all that around. There's no hope. Maybe one day there will be. But right now, it's kind of hard,” says Oke. 

Oke doesn’t look down on Mohawks to choose to vote, but it’s not something that he sees himself doing anytime soon. 

“The Mohawk people across Turtle Island, not many of us do vote. There are some who do. That's fine. It's an individual choice and I believe in that. Exercise your rights if you want to. But for many of us, we prefer not to. Simple as that,” says Oke. 

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“The federal government is the trustee, and we're the beneficiaries”

Serge Simon, council chief at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake, said that he actually voted in the last federal election. 

“In our case, because of our treaties, the British Crown is the guarantor, the federal government is the trustee, and we're the beneficiaries of that trust. Of course, in any trust, I'd have a say in who's going to administer my benefits. That's as far as I go with voting in the election,” said Simon. 

He says he respects people’s views on not voting, but says that it’s important to see the link between the federal government and what’s going on in the territory. 

Simon says he’s considering voting in this election after seeing how the federal government can both damage and help his community. Provincial and federal neglect - and a small handful of Kanehsatà:ke residents - have allowed Kanehsatà:ke’s lands to be contaminated by illegal dumping of toxic substances at a “recycling centre” (G&R Recycling) for almost a decade. Despite many Kanehsatà:ke people raising the alarm, the provincial government only revoked the dump’s permit after a 2020 investigation by The Rover, Ricochet Media and The Eastern Door. The federal government gave the community of Kahnehsatà:ke $3.5 million to reclaim the land, and a provincial injunction has halted the illegal dumping.

“People have to realize that what's going on in Kanehsatà:ke, whether it's related to organized crime, dumping, or any other problem, is related directly to the federal government's neglect. Had we been given the resources necessary, this wouldn't have happened or it would have been minimized really quick. This is by the will of the Crown, not the will of the Council or any individual. People like to point the finger at Council, but really it's like blaming a diabetic for being a diabetic,” says Simon. 

He says he’s considering voting in this election to avoid a Conservative government. In 2012, Stephen Harper’s Conservative government weakened Canada’s Environmental Protection Act and Environmental Assessment Act, and Simon says he fears Poilievre would continue dismantling federal environmental protections and increase oil and gas production. 

“These guys are only oil and gas. They work definitely for the energy industry. They don't really care much about anything else. They pretend they do, but I don't trust Poilievre. Poilievre is just another version of Harper, maybe worse. The environment needs protecting. Conservatives are definitely not the party to do that,” says Simon. 

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“We would be stepping outside our own nation”

Katsi’tén:hawe Linda David Cree sees it differently. Katsi’tén:hawe is a curriculum coordinator for Mohawk Language Custodian Association, a not-for-profit organization whose mandate is to revitalize Kanien'kéha (Mohawk) culture and language.

“It goes back a long ways with my parents not voting, my grandparents not voting. Being traditional, raised traditional, we feel that we would be stepping outside our own nation [by voting], that there's a case for sovereignty. [Voting] would take me out of being who I am, which is Haudenosaunee, Six Nation confederacy.”  

“Somebody says, well, if you have a Canadian status card, that makes you Canadian.

But I don't see it that way because in a way you're being forced to acknowledge that in order to have the services that are available to everybody else.”

Katsi’tén:hawe’s politics also seek to revitalize traditional Mohawk ways - the longhouse government where leaders are chosen by Clan Mothers.

“It's up to Clan Mothers to make sure that their [leadership] choices are good. They're supposed to watch the young ones as they grow. Suitable, good orators, good heart, good mind, very kind person. You want to have the best to be the spokesperson of your community,” she explains. 

In that vein, Katsi’tén:hawe also doesn’t vote in band council elections. 

“It's an arm of the federal government. It was imposed in the 1880s. We didn't ask for it. It was forced upon us. They even killed a chief from Akwesasne [Jake Ice-Saiowisakeron] in order to implement the elective system. It was imposed in order to get rid of the traditional chiefs,” she says.

Katsi’tén:hawe’s loyalty to tradition has led to some difficulties: she refuses, for example, to get a passport. However, she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

“I've really tried all my life with my husband to walk that very strict path. We married in the longhouse with our chiefs from the three communities. We've named our children in the longhouse,” she says.

“I like the position that I've taken throughout my life. I honor my parents because of it. And I wouldn't choose another life, even though it's been really hard,” concludes Katsi’tén:hawe.