National Day of Action
Cactus Cook-Sunday with Former Prime Minister Paul Martin
Pride in Native Identity : The Youth Perspective
Speech by Cactus Cook Sunday
I always thought of identity as some intangible sense of who you are, because that’s technically the definition. Native Identity, however, is not just something we reflect upon from time to time. It is a sense of purpose, inherent, and inseparable from everything else about us. It is what drives us. But it is unfinished when you’re born – Native Identity is about learning, for all the time that you’re here. Native Identity is pride. Struggle. And Resilience
Young people have to be vigilant about keeping a true, unaffected Native identity, and to do that, we have to learn, understand, and know the true history of our people.
We have to understand what happened centuries ago, even decades ago and not only in a global sense, but right here on our traditional territory. That became so apparent to me when I started out in the workforce after university – I’d find myself struggling to fill in gaps of my own history, things I should have already known. I marched out of high school & university & grad school thinking I was doing pretty well, until I started to try piece together the history of my own community. It was after all, my community. What did this treaty mean? Why was that agreement made? And how did it affect us?
Many of us have as much formal education as our non-Native peers, but we also need to understand our history as Native Peoples. Being Native, being a Mohawk woman, means a lot more than simply being successful, or productive, or richer. To me, Native Identity means being proud of my ancestors, proud of my traditions, my culture, being vigilant about my rights as a Native, and being resilient in the face of challenge. And there are a lot of challenges.
The ongoing challenge - the grand challenge - of all First Nations is to maintain a strong culture, tradition, and respect for their own historical place in Canada, in the face of opposition and prejudice. It is with this aspect of native identity – cultural pride - that the Mohawks of Akwesasne continue to create initiatives, govern, and commit themselves to the education of its young people. And so it is important to remember how we, the younger generations, benefit from the commitment and sacrifice of those who came before us. Our ancestors and elders struggled so that we could flourish, and we owe to the generations that will come after us to do the same.
Last winter, I listened as one very distinguished but very young-looking native attorney spoke about his peoples decades-long struggles with their water rights on their island. As he told us the history of his people, of his grandfather, he said that the reason he worked on this claim against this huge corporate conglomerate - why he fought so hard against the infringement on his peoples rights – was so that his grandchildren and their grandchildren would read his name somewhere in the documents, so they would see that he fought, and that he tried, even if he lost.
The greatest defense against challenges facing Native peoples today is knowing the issues, knowing your history, and knowing yourself. You aren’t educated until you know your own history – the WHYs and the HOWs of you. I read an interview a few months back with an older woman who was the first ever female head of a Movie Studio, and her reply to the question of “what was her most treasured possession” struck me – she said it was her “self esteem, because it didn’t come easy.” It came from struggle and challenges, and LIFE. When I was asked to speak today, when I knew I’d be talking about Native Identity from a young person’s point of view, this lady’s reply came to mind. Everything we have as Native peoples, we fought to keep. Our Identity is our most treasured possession.
