-
The Untold Story of The Iroquois Influence On Early Feminists →
-
June 24th, 2010, Toronto.
-
‘You Are On Indian Land’ is a short 1969 Canadian documentary that focuses on Tribal Sovereignty, which has long been a source of contention between Natives and Federal Governments, by following a short lived protest by Canadian Mohawks. This 36 minute film ultimately asks, Who really owns Indian land?
The film shows the confrontation between police and a 1969 demonstration by Mohawks of the St. Regis Reserve on the bridge between Canada and the United States near Cornwall, Ontario. By blocking traffic on the bridge, which is on the Reserve, the Indians drew public attention to their grievance that they were prohibited by Canadian authorities from duty-free passage of personal purchases across the border, a right they claim was established by the Jay Treaty of 1794.
‘You Are On Indian Land’ is credited with being the first Canadian documentary to chronicle Native issues.
-
Oka 1990. Photo by Shaney Komulainen
( h/t naufrageasec ) -
Mohawk Girls (2005, 62 min 45 s)
Directed by Tracey Deer -
Are these such bad rules?
Tracey Deer grew up on the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake with two very firm but unspoken rules drummed into her by the collective force of the community. These rules were very simple and they carried severe repercussions: 1) Do not marry a white person, 2) Do not have a child with a white person.
The consequences of ignoring these rules were equally simple: 1) Lose all status as a Native person and, 2) Deny your unborn child their status as a Native person. The larger tragedy, of course, was that by breaking either of these rules, she would be depleting the growth of “the Nation” and, by extension, betraying everyone she loved.
