MTO presence at Six Nations raises community concern
By Lynda Powless Editor A political misstep that could have come close to a confrontation Tuesday ( Dec.,19,2023) was averted after the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council (HCCC) notified the Six Nations Police (SNP) they were outside their jurisdiction bringing the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) to Six Nations without HCCC approval. SNP invited the MTO to conduct vehicle checks over two days on large trucks passing through Six Nations last week. But they did it without the approval of either the HCCC or Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC). The inspections quickly closed down Monday after the HCCC issued a notice warning SNP they were outside their jurisdiction. Turtle Island News received calls from community members of trucks being pulled over and inspected including opening the doors to look inside. Mohawk Chief...
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Six Nations housing units increase with completion of Onondaga 1
By Lisa Iesse Writer Housing is increasing at Six Nations. Six Nations newest affordable housing complex Onondaga 1 on Harold Street is now complete, with Onondaga 2 due in spring and Onondaga 3 on the way! On Tuesday (Dec. 19) Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill, members of the Elected Council, and the Six Nations Housing team gathered with Habitat for Humanity to mark the special occasion. Lily-Anne Mt. Pleasant, senior manager of Six Nations Housing, addressed the gathering who had made their way to Six Nations community hall to celebrate. “It’s been a long time coming,” Mt. Pleasant told the crowd, but this is just the beginning, she emphasised. It is the first affordable housing project Six Nations has seen for awhile. The project actually began in 2013 but faced funding...
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Local artist works influenced by time at “Mush-Hole”
By Lisa Iesse Writer “We will become stronger and we will be reborn with a new strength of spirit,” says Gary Miller-Lahiaaks, artist and Mohawk Institute Survivor. Miller was born in Six Nations in 1950 to a Mohawk mother and Cayuga father. He had just turned 3 years old when he first entered the doors of the Mohawk Institute. There, he experienced physical, emotional, and spiritual violence and oppression until he left at the age of 14 years old. The Mohawk Institute was the first of many ‘schools’ in Canada’s residential school system, operating for over 140 years. The system was designed to stop Indigenous parents, grandparents and Elders from passing on their culture, language, practices and beliefs to their children. Children were stolen from families, punished for speaking their...
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Holiday season has Six Nations giving to local food bank
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NO:IA…Change it is a coming
It’s time to reflect on the kind of year that we saw in 2023 and look to 2024 with hope. On the eve of a new year there is no question everyone is making resolutions, enjoying time with family and friends and hoping the world will frankly come to its senses. We have entered a tenuous time, all affected in differing degrees by an international war, and the tragedy of Ukraine, Israel and the Gaza not to mention the long term conflicts in other areas of the world. And there is no resolution in sight. Add to it the uncertainty of the U.S. politics and now a think tank, the Yellowhead Institute has decided it will no longer publish its annual report that tracked Canada’s progress on recommendations from the...
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Weekly Cartoon
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Six Nations’ athletic headline makers in 2023 part 2
By Sam Laskaris Writer Six Nations sports fans had more than their share of reasons to celebrate during 2023. Numerous local athletes and teams achieved success during the past 12 months. The Turtle Island News profiled five of those headline makers in last week’s issue. Part two of a look back at those with local connections that had commendable exploits follows below. SIX NATIONS TOMAHAWKS The Tomahawks, a men’s Senior C lacrosse team, were a force to be reckoned with this year. For starters the Tomahawks enjoyed success at their four regular season tournaments, compiling an impressive 15-1 mark. The Six Nations club continued its solid play at the season-ending Senior Series Lacrosse championships, held in Brampton in August. The Tomahawks ended up winning the gold medal at the eight-team...
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Women’s Arena Lacrosse League set for 2024 campaign at the ILA
By Sam Laskaris Writer Players have been divvied up. And it won’t be long now before the 2024 regular season of the Women’s Arena Lacrosse League (WALL) kicks off. The five-team circuit will stage all of its matches at the Iroquois Lacrosse Arena (ILA) in Six Nations. WALL featured four teams during its 2023 campaign. A fifth club has been added for this coming season. And all of the squads have been renamed. The teams in the league will be called Blazers, Cobras, Firebirds, Sirens and Sky Hawks. A draft of the players who had expressed interest in participating in the league this season was held via Zoom on Dec. 18. “The draft went very well,” said WALL commissioner Karie Wells. “We’ve got five excited coaches with some experienced bench...
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Akwesasne’s Carey Terrance going to Team USA
Akwesasne’s Carey Terrance is now part of Team USA and will be participating in the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships in Sweden....
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Merry Christmas from Turtle Island News
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Hamilton changes site trucking waste stop after MOE says no
By Lisa Iesse Writer HAMILTON – Ontario’s ministry of environment has pulled the brakes on 8,000 cubic metres or 16,000 tons of Chedoke Creek waste enroute to a local suburban landfill site in Hamilton. About one month ago, in a message posted on their website the city announced the clean-up was complete. “The in-water targeted dredging activities are completed, concluding the four-month effort to remove sediment from the bottom of Chedoke Creek.” It was a job that came with a $10.4 million price tag. “We’re running around 32 trucks a day of dried material as we’re able to,” Nick Winters, the city’s director of water told city council on November 21. About 2 weeks ago, the province stepped in warning that the planned dumping site, the GFL landfill in Stoney...
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Six Nations Elected Council confused on fire truck costs
SNEC NEEDS FIRE TRUCK COSTS EXPLAINED Six Nations Fire Department continues to work toward purchasing a ‘new’ fire truck, but by the time they receive it, it will already be two years old. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) deferred a motion to approve the truck at its General Council meeting on December 12, despite the motion being labelled “time sensitive.” Elected Chief Sherri-Lyn Hill said they needed to “clarify the numbers.” The deferred motion stated the invoices for the Four-door Extreme Tactical Sawtooth was $182,287 with a total cost of $366,574 coming from Minor Capital funds of 2021-2021 and 2022-2023. Councillor Kerry Bomberry pointed out that by the time the fire department receives the truck it will already be two years old, but they will pay the sticker price of...
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Feds pushing First Nations to sell their land to developers for housing
Conservative Members of Parliament (MP) are pushing Indigenous communities toward selling land to developers for housing instead of funding community builds. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) was told Conservative MP’s are pushing “assimilation” at the General Council meeting on December 12. Councillor Helen Miller gave a report on a lobbying trip she took to Ottawa on December 4 as part of delegation through the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Committee on Housing and Infrastructure. “It was quite the event with them. They were attacking us, you know,” she said. “They kept saying, ‘we’ve got to worry about everybody in Canada, not just you. We’ve got to worry about housing for everybody.’” They were there to meet with six MP’s to try to secure more funding for Indigenous communities to meet...
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Hydro One told to work out kink before SNEC approves plan
Hydro One needs to prepare accurate information before asking Six Nations for permission to work on the territory. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) is asking Hydro One to bring more specific information to them after a presentation by Chris Grol, Indigenous Relations Coordinator didn’t have the information necessary at the General Council meeting on December 12. Grol came to SNEC asking for two band council resolutions to allow Hydro One to complete two projects. One was a customer request on Seneca Road to upgrade the power supply to their residence, which would require Hydro One to install a new, larger, hydro pole. He said that may require clearing more of the area around the pole. The other request was unclear, but required two new, upgraded hydro poles to supply more...
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SNEC to mark phase two of development
Six Nations will pause its orientation to celebrate the Onondaga Buildings with the community. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) was invited to the celebration of the new buildings on Harold Road and despite having scheduled orientations decided at the Political Liaison Committee meeting on December 11 that they would take a break to have the entire council attend. “It is actually a pretty big deal,” Councillor Greg Frazer said. “They do a lot of work we don’t have to cover in terms of cost for Habitat for Humanity. I think it’s good to show an appearance.” The event will run from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Six Nations Community Hall on December 19. The event boasts that it will “honour the hard work, dedication, and the community engagement...
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Woman who lured doulas with pregnancy claim pleads guilty
BRANTFORD / SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – The Brantford woman who confessed to staging pregnancies plead guilty to over 20 charges involving doulas across the province. On March 13, Kaitlyn Braun, who is 25 years old, was arrested and accused of misleading a number of doulas with claims of pregnancy and miscarriage from June 2022 to February 2023. The identity of the doulas has been blocked by a publication ban. At a Brantford court on Thursday (Dec. 7) Braun pleaded guilty to 21 of 52 charges of fraud, indecent acts, false pretenses and mischief. Among the charges Braun pleaded guilty to was a charge of mischief for falsely misleading the Brantford police in February, by accusing another person of the crimes. Doulas are professionals hired to provide support to...
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Entrepreneurs and artists bedazzled at GRETI’s annual Christmas Night Market in Ohsweken
Photos by Lisa Iesse SIX NATIONS OF THE GRAND – Entrepreneurs and artists bedazzled at GRETI’s annual Christmas Night Market in Ohsweken. The market took place on Thursday (Dec. 7) at the Grand River Employment and Training (GREAT) centre on 16 Sunrise Court Tawnie Johnson, who is GREAT’s special projects coordinator, told Turtle Island News this was the third year of the annual event. The market featured about 14 outstanding vendors from Six Nations and surrounding areas, explained Johnson. “It’s really about giving local entrepreneurs a place to showcase their crafts,” she said. The market happens only once a year and it began about three years ago, said Johnson. “It first started to help entrepreneurs, the goal was to help some of the entrepreneurs from Six Nations have an avenue...
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Wishing you the season’s happiest
The holidays are upon us. And it couldn’t come at a more needed time. For some of us personally, including myself, we have seen loss this year that touches us deeply and the holiday spirit of giving, sharing and family love couldn’t come at a better time. It’s a holiday, one of two Christian holidays, that have become universally celebrated, one for Jesus birth and the other his crucifixion, with Christmas growing more to become more broad based as a celebration of winter itself and a weirdly dressed man in a red suit with a beard sliding down chimneys than the other where you may take your kids to an Easter egg hunt or stage one yourself but that doesn’t connect you to its religious roots. Christmas is different. In...
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Weekly Cartoon
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Six Nations’ athletic headline makers in 2023
By Sam Laskaris Writer Local sports fans had plenty of reasons to celebrate during the past 12 months. That’s because Six Nations athletes and teams had their share of successes. The Turtle Island News will now look back at some of these athletic headline makers. Part one of this remembrance with five of those who achieved greatness is below. And part two of the series will be published next week. SIX NATIONS CHIEFS The Chiefs, members of Major Series Lacrosse, managed to end a seven-year drought when they captured the national Mann Cup in September. After being crowned Ontario champions, the Chiefs travelled to British Columbia to square off against the host New Westminster Salmonbellies in a best-of-seven series to determine who would be dubbed the best Senior A men’s...
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