Culture Interrupted

In the Artist Statement on his website, multi-disciplinary artist, musician, knowledge keeper, and longtime Tyendinaga resident David Maracle emphasizes the importance of his ancestry, his Mohawk Haudensaunee roots, and the inspiration he received listening to his Indigenous elders – along with his responsibility to pass that knowledge on to future generations.

Those sentiments are echoed by other community leaders, artists and craftspeople featured in a recent TVO documentary, “Tyendinaga”, part of its “Crossroads” series about communities facing industrial, social and cultural change. 

Brandie Maracle is owner of Rez Girl Creations and a maker of traditional ribbon skirts – iconic clothing that has been worn by indigenous women for centuries. Brandie learned the craft from a friend’s mother, and feels keenly the influence of her elders. “I’m just following what my ancestors left me to do,” she says. I’m fulfilling my duty as a Mohawk mother.”

Like David and Brandie, Cheryle Maracle, owner of Randy’s Leather, emphasizes their collective responsibility: “We all hold a piece in keeping our ways, our traditions, who we are.” 

Nathan Brinklow teaches the Mohawk language and feels a strong responsibility to his elders. “When I was a kid, there were people who could speak Kanyen’kehà:ka (Mohawk) but I didn’t know it. They were just the old people, and it really wasn’t until after they were gone that I realized that I should’ve been talking to these people. I should’ve been learning from them.” 

Respect for Indigenous culture even makes it into the ground-breaking pilot-training program at Tyendinaga-based FNTI, the First Nations Technical Institute. Jo-Anne Tabobandung, Dean of Aviation, says: “We incorporate Indigenous classes and teachings where they learn a lot about themselves – and at the same time, they learn how to fly airplanes.”

Throughout the documentary, there is a sense that these efforts have come just in time. Callie Hill, Executive Director of Tsi Tyónnheht Onkwawén:na Language and Cultural Centre, says that in the late 1990s there were probably only a handful of Mohawk speakers – very different from the situation today. “I didn’t want to hear that ‘The last speaker of Mohawk has died’,” she says. Similarly, Janice Brant, founder of the Kenhté:ke Seed Sanctuary is helping pass on the farming knowledge of her ancestors, conserving the seeds and food of her people that otherwise would have gone extinct. Brandie Maracle says that at the time she began making her ribbon skirts, even some of her own people didn’t understand the significance of her work. 

The injustices of colonialization are undeniable, and David doesn’t shy away from them, saying colonizers “tried to rape us of our language and traditional ways.” Indeed there is an undercurrent of anger during parts of the documentary, particularly when talking about some of the obstacles the community has had to overcome. “These are not luxury items: to have safe drinking water, or affordable housing, or a safe road to drive on,” says R. Donald Maracle, Chief of the Mohawks of Bay of Quinte.

“That residential residue almost killed our people across the world,” says David – but the word ‘almost’ is key. Despite the efforts and effects of colonialism, Indigenous culture is culture interrupted, not culture extinguished.

The people of Tyendinaga aren’t defined by anger at the injustices of the past, so much as by the beauty and richness of the cultural heritage they preserve and nurture. Cheryle says, “We’re coming out of this. We’re still here, we’re still surviving, and we’re still making it.” Brandie adds, “We’re very resilient people. We will always continue to be who we are. We will always follow the path our ancestors left us.” David speaks of his culture as a living being, saying: “The beauty of our culture is reviving itself right now.”

So what does the future hold? Chief Maracle puts it succinctly: “I think Tyendinaga will become a very prosperous nation. I think our culture will flourish.”

“Tyendinaga” can be viewed on-demand on the TVO YouTube channel at youtube.com/tvo.