35 years after the Oka crisis | Learn by earth

A hundred children of Kanesatake will spend the heyday in a day camp created on a farm in the region. An extraordinary initiative of the local health center, led by a former … police officer!

“Our culture is very rich, but for it to be transmitted, it must be taught,” says David Gabriel. “We want children to be related to the territory, with food, animals, which play a vital role on this land. »»

We meet this citizen of Kanesatake* while preparing hives for the season, in June, at the farm located on the rank of the Annunciation, in Oka. Outside, chive flowers pluck their purple heads in the wind. Chickens peck, llamas graze. Behind Mr. Gabriel, traditional braided baskets create a bucolic setting.

A year ago, the Kanesatake health center acquired the Pinède gardens, a jewel of organic farms in the region that had just been bankrupt. The goal: to offer a preserved enclave, a healthy environment, for community members, especially children.

They learn the values, stories and traditions Kanien’Kehá (Mohawks) at the local school. Values such as maintaining deep family ties. Reciprocity with nature. “But when they leave the institution, they see their people destroying the world with which it is supposed to be in relation,” denounces Jeremy Tomlinson, director general of the health center. “It creates a dissonance. »»

Illegal dumps^⁠polluted rivers, wild spills of contaminated soil ^1,2 : The indigenous community has made headlines for over two years due to environmental misdeeds committed on its land. A situation that highlights the “lawless area” that has become the territory, struggling with organized crime, denounced a group of citizens.

For children growing on the spot, signs of destruction are everywhere, adds Tomlinson.

Since his arrival, Jeremy Tomlinson has been advocating a holistic health vision.

Prevention and healing start from childhood, adds the director. But how do you revitalize culture when the environment contradicts the values that are trying to instill in youth? It is from this question that the farm project was born.

A different place

In 2024, the health center managed to obtain funding of $ 4.2 million from the federal government to acquire the Pinède gardens. A “superb project”, underlined on Facebook the co-owner of the farm, Marie-Josée Daguerre. Despite mourning, M^me Daguerre wished the members of the Kanesatake community “sincerely the best and especially that they protect this magnificent land”.

The mayor of Oka denounced the transaction, however, a possible “disguised expropriation”, according to him, in the pages of Dutyin July 2024 (an assertion contradicted by the federal government).

In addition to agricultural projects, the places now offer traditional craft workshops such as basket braiding and wood work. School groups were able to take advantage of it informed of the year, says Jeremy Tomlinson. Since the end of the classes, the farm has also welcomed a hundred children, in a day camp in the form of a pilot project.

Almost all children in the community are registered, underlines Mr. Tomlinson. He sees it as proof of citizens’ membership of the project which, he hopes, will continue to flower.

* The press Use French terminology for Aboriginal names, including Kanesatake. The spelling recommended by the community is Kanehsatà: Ke.

^⁠1. Read “toxic waters in an” lawless zone “”

⁠2. Read “soil spills cause strong Kanesatake tensions”