Honoring the missing and murdered, sharing the impact of trauma

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AKWESASNE — Amid the tears shed, new hope continues for healing for Akwesasne residents who have suffered generations of repression.

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At one point, keynote speaker Dr. Sarah Konwahahawi Rourke hugged a Mohawk woman who spoke quietly about her own painful experiences at the National Awareness Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Two-Spirit People , held at Generations Park on Sunday. .

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The emotional sharing was part of Rourke’s message to about 50 people who attended a day of remembrance in the park’s arena.

“We all put in and take out what we need,” Rourke said, noting the indigenous dish’s symbolic use of a spoonful of wampum belt to help unite community members.

The theme of her hour-plus talk was Resilience through Survival.

For Indigenous communities to build a new future, she said continued healing is still a priority, but it’s also a positive signal for non-Indigenous groups.

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“That radiates outward, that we’re not just victims, we’re survivors,” Rourke said in her interview after the event. “We want the world to see our success as much as our failures.

“We’re not just a list of disparities.”

She said her research into the systems of inter-colonialism that produced, for example, residential schools, shows that progress will largely depend on giving indigenous communities a greater voice in overcoming the past.

“It’s not just about the social determinants, it’s about the indigenous definition of success about what we do,” she explained. “Despite the colonial impact of oppression, we’re thriving, we’re still here … our children, they still know who they are — it’s such a beautiful thing.”

While the community’s desire to thrive is there, she said members of the small indigenous community cannot do it alone, citing the preservation of indigenous languages ​​that can help restore their culture as an example.

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Shara Francis-Herne, manager of the Akwesasne Family Wellness Program, said Rourke.

“Part of the responsibility lies with the federal governments,” Francis-Herne said. “So much of the work requires funding, requires allocating resources to have programs and outreach, and initiating on the ground and advocating to really determine what the need is and how to address it.”

Locally, Francis-Herne said Akwesasne’s support was better than most, noting that five different organizations – “prevention based” – were at the event to provide support and information to participants.

“We have two women’s shelters that serve survivors of violence, so that’s huge,” she said. “But some communities don’t have those facilities to accommodate victims.”

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If sufficient funding is available, it is still difficult for Francis-Herne and Rourke to predict how long it will take for indigenous peoples to satisfactorily overcome the trauma of their past.

In the meantime, they will continue to hold a public healing forum as they work to best recognize those lost individuals.

“Our theme for this year is ‘We Honor Her,'” Francis-Herne said.

She said it was not yet fully known how many Akwesasne residents were killed or missing, although her own research had identified a dozen. She said the lack of knowledge rests with current government jurisdictions, which are hesitant to properly investigate.

“We’re still mobilizing to have national databases,” she said, and that requires even more funding.

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For the deceased who are known, she said a physical memorial would help with healing.

“There’s more work to be done, especially even for SDG (and Akwesasne), how we have a permanent space that houses those stories…that tells them their names, then we don’t forget them and they’re not lost,” said Francis- Herne.

The day-long event also included local art and illustration exhibits, a corn husk puppet workshop, a red belt drive to honor the victims, a cornmeal lunch, banner making with Jackie Moon, a presentation by Akwesasne environmental justice and survivor Claire Charlo, and concluded with a Haudenosaunee social.

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