I have told you these things so you may have peace in Me.
In the world you will have much trouble. But take hope!
I have power over the world!
John 16:33, NLV
"Rycki!" I shouted to my twenty-four-year-old son. "Rycki, relax! They're trying to intimidate you!"
It was the summer of 1990, the height of the "Oka Crisis" when Mohawks squared off against the Canadian Army and the dreaded Sûreté du Québec (SQ), and the air was thick with tension.
The mayor of Oka had announced plans for the expansion of a golf course and the building of condominiums on the site of a sacred Aboriginal burial ground. The Mohawk people had been trying to negotiate a comprehensive claim on the land for decades. When negotiations with the municipality to stop construction on the golf course broke down, the Mohawk put up barricades on a road, preventing any work on the golf course. The Quebec police were sent in to dismantle the barricades by force and in a botched raid, a police officer was shot and killed. The police and Canadian military surrounded the Mohawk land, and the police were making arrests at random.
Attempting to pass a roadblock to buy gas and milk-desperately needed behind the barriers-I was stopped by the army and then the police. When they ordered both my son and I out of the car, I knew what was coming. Police customarily tried to harass and intimidate young men, forcing them to fight back so the SQ could then claim the young men resisted arrest. That's when I began yelling at my only son, Rycki. I didn't want him to fall for their tactics.
"Your son is under arrest!" the police informed me.
My bewildered son, heeding his mother, didn't try to fight back. As it turned out, attacking Rycki was only a ploy. The person they really wanted was me.
"Mrs. Etienne!" the officer said, "you're under arrest."
But for what reason? I was a counsellor at Onen'torkon Treatment Services, the Mohawk-run center for treating substance abuse, and one of the negotiators trying to bring about a peaceful settlement between the Mohawks, who did not want their land bulldozed to expand a golf course, and the government forces. Police told me they were arresting me for intimidation and for being at the barricade constructed by the Mohawk people to protect their territory. And they had the pictures to prove it.
At that moment, some filmmakers from the National Film Board went by.
"They're arresting me!" I called to them so they could let people know at the treatment center that I was being arrested. The incident was filmed and later used in an NFB documentary, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance.
Unwilling to be intimidated by the police, I firmly stood my ground when they harassed me. I wasn't afraid because I knew they were in the wrong, and I knew God was with me.
I was born in 1944, the youngest of nine children. From the time I was very young, I learned about the Christian faith. Both my parents had become Christians before I was born, when Italian Pentecostal missionaries came to the area. Before the Pentecostals, there was a Methodist presence in the community. French Roman Catholics had been in the area since the seventeenth century.
There was no doubt about the effect of faith on my life. I saw miracles with my own eyes. One time my mother was doubled up with pain from appendicitis. The church people prayed for her and she stood right up as if nothing was wrong.
I made my own decision to accept Jesus as my Savior when I was eleven, just before my family moved from Kahnawake to Medina, New York. There was an evangelistic meeting at a big Pentecostal church in Montreal, and a man named Richard Vineyard was preaching. When he asked if anyone wanted to repent and follow Jesus, I stood up and went forward.
It made me realize I couldn't hang on what my parents were doing. I had to have my own relationship with God.
When our family moved to New York, we joined a church that had lots of activities for young people, including Bible quizzes and youth conventions. Being part of the church helped me grow in my faith.
From early on in life, I was proud to be Mohawk. My parents were also proud to be Mohawk and taught us children to appreciate who we were. Because of the strong community our family lived in, I was unaware of racism. I didn't really think I was different as a child.
My first clue that my people were not like other people came when we crossed the border into the United States. The customs officers asked my parents their nationality. Instead of saying "Canadian," they always replied, "Mohawk."
Then I knew we were different. Even now, instead of holding a Canadian passport, I carry a Mohawk passport.
Women are traditional keepers of the land in Mohawk culture; our job is to make sure the land is there for the coming seven generations. Mohawk men are warriors, or according to tradition, Rotiskenrakete, "carriers of the burden of peace." So when the SQ arrived, it was the women camping in the woods who came forward from where they were making breakfast in The Pines, and confronted the police.
On Sunday, July 15, 1990, I was hosting the Mohawk Gospel program on CKHQ when I received word that there was to be a community planning meeting at the gym that evening. I announced the meeting on my program, and after my shift was over, I headed to the gym where another individual and I were chosen as negotiators to try to settle the dispute peacefully.
The treatment center became the Mohawk headquarters throughout the standoff. For 47 of the 78 days, I continued to go in to the center, despite protests from my husband. He was so afraid they were going to shoot us.
With Army flares going off in the middle of the night, helicopters buzzing constantly overhead and tanks everywhere, the summer of 1990 was mayhem.
The standoff continued through September. Talks had gotten nowhere. There was tension among the Mohawks themselves and disagreement about how or whether to continue.
Finally, the people in The Pines reached a consensus. On September 26, the Mohawks-30 men, 16 women and 6 children-walked out of The Pines. It was not surrender.
Nevertheless, after a violent attack by the army patrol, dozens were arrested and charged with criminal acts from rioting and obstruction of justice to assaulting peace officers. Most Mohawks were eventually released, but a few of the leaders served jail terms.
It was a costly summer. Almost 4,000 army and police troops were deployed to fight a handful of Mohawks. Though only two lives were lost, hundreds of men, women and children suffered severe emotional trauma during the crisis.
It's a big nightmare that you hope you'll wake up from.
I continue to speak across the airwaves of the Mohawk Gospel program on Sunday afternoons, giving greetings, dedicating songs and inviting listeners to enjoy the gospel music and Scripture portions read in Mohawk. There's no hint of the tension there was almost two decades earlier. For now, there's peace in Kanehsatake.
Read more stories of help, hope, and victory through Christ in The Conquering Indian 2.
In Times of Turmoil . . .
Mavis Etienne describes a time when she lived in a world where many people faced uncertainty and fear—much like our world is facing today. However, Mavis was not frightened because she knew Jesus was with her.
Jesus Christ said in John 14:6 in God’s book, the Bible, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the father but through me.” Jesus is the Son of God and only by giving our life to Him, do we have access to God . . . and to the peace we all seek.
Are you feeling drawn to nurture the spiritual side of your life? Do you need help dealing with the difficult situations in your life?
You can find hope by opening your heart to God. Your prayer can be simple:
• Tell God that you want to accept His way to know true peace and joy.
• Tell Him that you know that without His help, you understand that you will be separated from God in life and death.
• Accept Jesus as God’s only provision to deal with your separation from Him.
• Invite Jesus, God’s Son, to take control of your life and place you in His care.
Your prayer might sound something like this:
Dear God, I accept Your way. I believe Your Son Jesus died for my sins so I can become part of the family of God. Because You raised Jesus from the dead,
I can experience harmony of life with Your Son as my Shepherd. I’m sorry and turn from my sins and ask You, God, to take charge of my life. I ask your Holy Spirit to come and fill me now with Your presence and power that I will live each day walking on Your Path. I offer this prayer to You through Your Son, Jesus. Amen.
If you have prayed the above prayer, we would like to hear from you. Write to us and mail it to (in the U.S.) Indian Life Ministries, P.O. Box 32, Pembina, ND 58271; (in Canada) Indian Life Ministries, P.O. Box 3765, Redwood Post Office, Winni- peg, MB R2W 3R6. We will send you some helpful information on how to walk the Creator’s Path.
