“The Ongoing Land Struggle of Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawks) of Kanehsatà:ke”

Public talk by Kanien’kehá:ka human rights and environmental rights activist ELLEN GABRIEL

In their August 2019 press release, nearly three decades after the 1990 “Oka” Crisis or occupation of Kanehsatà:ke, “the Rotinonhseshá:ka - People of the Longhouse, Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawks) of Kanehsatà:ke, Keepers of the Eastern Door of the Iroquois Confederacy” called upon Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “to demand that Canada act for the cessation of further fraudulent sales of our Kanien’kehá:ka Homelands”. In her lecture, Ellen Gabriel will discuss the ongoing struggle of her people to protect their land against further encroachment. Drawing on her long-standing advocacy work for the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, traditional knowledge, gender equity, and Indigenous governing structures, Ms. Gabriel will situate the struggle in relation to the Kaianera’kó:wa – the Great Law of Peace and connect it to various issues, whether they concern Kanehsatà:ke directly or Indigenous peoples and settler colonialism more largely. She will engage with the audience to further reflect on the role of women, the impact of arts, and the commitment for language revitalization in mobilizations for First Peoples Human Rights.