Articles

Museum Curator

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:12:00 +0000

Greetings from Treaty 7 Territory:

We have a neighborhood in our city called Saratoga Park. The last resident has moved out and the area will become a city park space because it frequently floods. We want to put up a sign acknowledging the people who lived there and explaining how the area got its name. We have a good idea of who gave it the name, and why, but not the meaning of Saratoga. We know that it is a word form your language, but not its proper meaning. Can anyone help us, please?

New Cartoon

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:05:38 +0000

Membership survey results released

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 17:10:44 +0000

The long overdue membership survey results were released last Thursday. MCK issued a press release stating that “though a technical method of randomly selecting phone numbers by neutral parties was used, the MCK is not prepared to say how accurate the results of the survey are due to the difficulty in gathering the results and the amount of input given by those who participated.”

The survey was plagued by a lack of participation in the initial paper version of the survey, which was distributed in the MCK’s History of Membership sessions last September. The low participation led to the random phone survey, which according to the press release, resulted in the completion of 360 surveys.

I do wonder what happened to the paper survey that people, including myself, completed because the press release makes no mention of this data being included in the final statistics.

While MCK made efforts to seek out the community’s opinions, the methods used are not capable of gauging a specified margin of error. Perhaps an outside firm, specializing in data research, should have been hired to create and conduct the survey. The overwhelming feedback from participants also skewed results and added to the delay.

Participants’ additional comments are not verbatim and the full context of the conversation is unclear, since the comments are subdivided by theme in the results. The survey wasn’t cut and dry and maybe that’s not possible with such a complex issue. After all, this isn’t a questionnaire on customer satisfaction.

One thing the survey proves is that people have something to say, whether it is about the survey questions or the membership issue itself.

New Cartoon

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:25:11 +0000

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Hi,

The way I understand the "duty to inform" is that it gives Bands an opportunity to act at best, and similar to a legal warning, at worst. It basically covers their interests in the event no one responds at the band level.

Mike

Changes to the site

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:18:00 +0000

There are some new features on the Kahnawake Voices site to help with navigation.

There is now a search bar located at the top of each page and I have also integrated an RSS Feed. RSS allows you to view all new content on the website in an easy-to-read format. To subscribe, click the RSS icon on the bottom right-hand corner of the website and follow the instructions.

You now also have the option of responding to other people’s notes. All you need to do is click the ‘Comment on this Note’ link found at the bottom of each note and type in your response.

You can also follow Kahnawake Voices on Twitter by clicking the Twitter icon located at the bottom right-hand corner of the website.

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 18:53:00 +0000

I think there are many factors but one might be a cultural thing with them. Women take on the identity of the man, traditionally in their culture. They take on his name etc. So for them it was 'natural' that an Indian women would lose everything and 'become' white. Whereas a white women became less than if she married a native men. Back then status wasn't a good thing, there weren't benefits, just restrictions. She had betrayed her people if she joined up with a native guy.

Bill C-3 passes, now what?

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 04:46:56 +0000

The Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act (Bill C-3) came into effect on January 31, 2011. The goal of Bill C-3 is, as the title states, to remedy the gender discrimination caused by the Indian Act.

The bill grants status to eligible grand-children of women who lost status as a result of marrying non-Indian men.

The key criteria are:

- Did your grandmother lose her Indian status as a result of marrying a non-Indian?

- Is one of your parents registered, or entitled to be registered, under sub-section 6(2) of the Indian Act?

- Were you, or one of your siblings, born on or after September 4, 1951?

The bill doesn’t address all gender discrimination as this article on Rabble notes:

“Grandchildren who trace their Aboriginal descent through the maternal line will continue to be denied status if they were born prior to September 4, 1951. And yet grandchildren who trace their Aboriginal descent through the male line will not.

Further, by proposing only to correct sex discrimination against the grandchildren of women who lost status by marrying out, Bill C-3 would continue to exclude grandchildren who are descended from status Indian women who had children with non-status men in common-law unions. It would also continue the exclusion of female children and grandchildren of status Indian men who partnered with non-status women in common-law unions. Male children and grandchildren of status Indian fathers who co-parented with non-status women in common-law unions will have status.”

While the bill is a welcome step in acknowledging the inequality in the Indian Act, it is problematic to categorize identity. Categories create barriers and effect how we view each other on an individual level. Status Indian, C-31, C-3 does one have more worth than the other? The upside to the new bill is that it is sparking a debate about Native identity, citizenship and membership across Canada.

New Cartoon

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:43:17 +0000

Community member reflects on phone survey experience (Jan. 14, 2011)

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 04:30:44 +0000

Rodney Thomas, Membership Registrar (Nov. 8, 2010) - Discusses the questionnaire and the phone survey

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:47:14 +0000

Rodney Thomas, Membership Registrar (Nov. 8, 2010) - Discusses community involvement in CDMP

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 19:45:38 +0000