This summer, students from the course INDG 450 took a break from learning in a classroom and spent the month of June learning stories, teachings, and histories about the land and the people from Tiohtià :ke. In an intensive summer course taught by Jimena Márquez, a faculty lecturer for the Indigenous Studies Program, students travelled by bus to various locations around Montreal to learn land-based Haudenosaunee teachings.
This immersive experience allowed students to canoe on the lake of Two-Mountains, hike up Mont St-Hillaire and visit the community of Kahnawá:ke on multiple occasions to partake in various forms of land-based learning, some of the highlights of the course were the following activities: :
- The students participated in tour led by a local community member to learn about the history and people of Kahnawá:ke. They walked around the community for two hours and learned how and when the Kanien'kehá:ka settled in this location, they learned about the Oka crisis and they learned about the ways the Kanien'kehá:ka are celebrating their culture within the community.
- Students learned how to make traditional bread with cornmeal and beans from a Kanien'kehá:ka family, shared lunch, danced the rabbit dance and did the strawberry ceremony.
- The students participated in a water ceremony led by Michael Standup and spent the afternoon on the river’s shore.
- The students visited the Droulers-Tsiionhiakwatha site where a life sized-reconstruction of a Haudenosaunee village is presented. The tour guide talked about how Haudenosaunee people lived while in the long-house, the time it took them to build the long-house and how often they moved it.
- On Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21st, students went to a ceremony led by Mohawk Elders in Montreal’s Old port where songs, speeches and dances were shared. Students also went to Cabot Square and participated in the celebration organized by the Native Women’s Shelter that included many Indigenous musicians and powwow dancers from all over turtle island.
On the last day of class, students learned about survival skills. They spent the day in the forest learning how to make fire, knots, how to walk in silence and other skills guided by Steve and Dave, Kanien'kehá:ka Elder. They shared stories and shared food around the fire. The Indigenous Studies Program focusses on engaging with Indigenous knowledge systems and societies from within and is committed to practicing reciprocity with the program’s Indigenous community partners.
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