Can anyone help,im looking for mellanie dellisle,shes a friend of mine and I havent seem her in yrs.She used to work on the rez there at kartri hospital as a phone operator,my number is 440 728 8250,tell her im looking for her thanks to anyone who has helped..Tony from OHIO.or my email is windwalkerts@yahoo.com

It's now Christmas Eve and tomorrow, it'll be Christmas Day. What exactly is this supposed to mean? Does one need to be a member of a church or a religion to be part of it? I am not a member of either but I wish well to all those who may celebrate the supposed birthday of a guy named Jesus.

I also wish well to all who promote some fat white guy named Santa. Good for the little kids who will get toys and stuff, but it's so bad for the people who almost go broke buying all the corporate stuff that makes rich people get richer.

I also wish well to members of Kahnawake who are not really members, but should be.

I also wish well to members of Kahnawake who are members, but really shouldn't be.

I also wish that I didn't have to be a member of anything, like a church, a religion or believe in some fat, frivolous and fictitious person for one or more of my wishes to come true.

I also wish that members of Kahnawake come to terms with people such as Jesus, Santa and all those who may enjoy some momentary joy on Dec. 25, but who will be members of nothing on the 26th.

Happy X-mas to all.

So both my mother and her brother maried out. My mom lost her rites and my uncle's wife got native rites. Plus the kids from uncle's mariage have full status. Us we did not.

Then in 85 my mothers got her rites back, ans so my brother and sisters where promoted to 50% indians. My uncle's wife kept her full rites, nothing changed for her or my cousins.
Most of my cousins had kids within the community, perhaps they where better accepted? Us, barely fitting in, so we had kids outside the community.

My daughter is not concidered native. None the less she is doing just fine. unfortunately to protect her, I did not involve her in the community but i did teach her as much as I could about he culture.

Now, 2010 the Mcguiver ruling proposes to let my
daughter have rites. Wow, perhaps she could be a born-again Indian. Set up a tee-pee, learn about culture and intergrate with in a community that never valued her before. What a concept!

I guess what i'm trying to say is that i'm frustrated at the whole thing. The community is in a panic in fear that my daughter and many others are going to flood the community with their mooving back and on the other hand, drain the inflow of government $$$$$. So, the membership decision making process is being rushed. And there does not seem to be much people interested in dealing with it.

Pehaps my daughter and I would have been better off if i was my uncles daughter instead of my mothers daughter.

Just a moment of venting after doing some reading on the issue.

Thank you

Clearing up casual misunderstandings, mistaken differences or simple errors is always a productive and positive thing.

With that thought in mind, it would be very beneficial to have Tammy B. share insights on this site, that she will gather from Kanienke'hake elders who understand the intricacies of the Kanienke'ha language and who will provide a women's perspective and interpretation of their roles and responsibilties, as it applies to the Haudenosaunee.

There is hardly a day that passes that I personally do not dwell on the past, present and future of Kahnawake and in all frankness, it seems to be not a pretty picture.

The Membership issue, in general, has been around (and well before) since I was a child and we're talking the mid 50's. The Seaway came through during those years and it ripped away the river from us. Hydro Quebec also grabbed up an enormous swath of land for their towers and the Mercier Bridge was expanding to 2 spans, which then created a spaghetti network of new highways that also consumed more of our diminished land base. Then there's the never-ending "Seigneury", like as if, to use the parlance of todays youth.

It is my opinion, that we as Kahnawakero:non, are bogged down in a quagmire of great proportions and there seems to not exist a magic solution.

Solving our internal divisions IS the first step and there is nothing in this world more magical than relying on the mystique of a Mohawk woman, mother/sister/wife/aunt/grandmother/daughter,etc.

Nia:wen, Thank you, especially to all women.