Kahnawake

Kahnawake is a Mohawk reserve in southern Quebec, Canada, located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from Montreal. It is home to the Kahnawake Mohawk Tribe, part of the Mohawk Nation within the Iroquois Confederacy. The reserve is known for its gambling and tobacco industries, as well as its role in the construction of bridges and skyscrapers in North America. It is also recognized for its longstanding tradition of ironworking.

1. Kahnawake Historical Land Claim:

Kahnawake was established within the area known as the Seigneurie du Sault-Saint-Louis, a 40,320-acre (163.2 km²) territory granted by the French Crown in 1680 to the Jesuits to “protect” and “support” the Mohawk who had recently converted to Catholicism. When the seigneury was granted, the government intended for the land to remain closed to European settlers.

However, the Jesuits took on the role of seigneurs of the Sault, allowed French and other European settlers to move in, and collected rents from them. The Jesuits managed the seigneury until April 1762, after the British defeated France in the Seven Years’ War and took control of New France east of the Mississippi River. The new British governor, Thomas Gage, ordered that the reserve be fully and exclusively owned by the Mohawk, under the oversight of the Indian Department.

Despite ongoing complaints from the Mohawk, many government agents continued to permit non-Native intrusion and poorly managed the lands and rents. Surveyors were even found to have altered some old maps to the disadvantage of the Kahnawake people. From the late 1880s through the 1950s, the Mohawk were forced by the government to cede land repeatedly to allow for railway, hydro-electric, and telephone company projects along the river.

Today, Kahnawake covers only 13,000 acres (5,300 ha). In the late 20th century, the Mohawk Nation began pursuing land claims with the Canadian government to reclaim lost territory. The current claim involves municipalities including Saint-Constant, Sainte-Catherine, Saint-Mathieu, Delson, Candiac, and Saint-Philippe.

Led by the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and the reserve’s Inter-governmental Relations Team, the community has submitted claims to the Canadian government seeking monetary compensation and symbolic recognition of its claim. NOTE: Kahnawake is not asking for financial compensation related to land mismanagement. Instead, it acknowledges the full extent of the seigneury as Kahnawake Mohawk Territory and aims to regain its land along with financial compensation for infrastructure crossing the territory.

2. Multi-cultural Community:

The Kahnawake Mohawk community has a long history of adopting captives, including Europeans, into their matrilineal kinship system, assimilating them fully. This practice, predating European contact, led to a mixed ancestry population with complex relations between full-blood and mixed-race members. Throughout the 17th to 20th centuries, tensions arose over land, resources, and cultural changes, especially regarding mixed marriages and property rights. Government policies in the late 19th century further complicated governance and land ownership, leading to social unrest and shifts from traditional clan systems toward elected councils.

Key Points

• The traditional seven-clan system evolved into the Longhouse Movement with three clans by the mid-20th century.
• Kahnawake Mohawks historically adopted captives, including Europeans, making them full clan members; children inherit status matrilineally.
• Mixed ancestry became common due to intermarriage with Europeans; tensions sometimes arose between full-blood and mixed-race community members.
• Land disputes and resource competition were persistent issues, exacerbated by colonial and later Canadian government policies.
• The Indian Advancement Act (1884) imposed elected councils, challenging traditional hereditary clan leadership and causing internal divisions.
• Social unrest in the late 19th century included violent incidents linked to land privatization and economic struggles.

3. Effects of Construction Projects in/through Community:

In the past, both the federal and Quebec governments have frequently chosen to place major civil engineering projects benefiting southern Quebec’s economy on Kahnawake land due to its closeness to the Saint Lawrence River. The reserve is intersected by power lines from hydroelectric stations, railways, roads, and bridges. One of the earliest such projects was the emerging Canadian Pacific Railway’s Saint-Laurent Railway Bridge. Reid & Fleming handled the masonry work, while the Dominion Bridge Company constructed the steel framework. Between 1886 and 1887, the new bridge was built across the wide river, linking Kahnawake to Montreal Island. Men from Kahnawake worked as bridgemen and ironworkers, often hundreds of feet above the water and ground.

When the national government decided to create the Saint Lawrence Seaway canal through the village, it permanently cut off the people and buildings of Kahnawake from their natural riverfront. The loss of land and river access, demolition of homes, and altered relationship with the river deeply affected Kahnawake. The community had been established there for centuries, with their identities closely tied to an intimate knowledge of the river from childhood into adulthood. One outcome of these losses was a strong determination within the community to prevent further encroachment. They united and grew stronger as a result.

4. Working in New York:

The success of the Mohawk in major high-rise construction projects gave rise to the legend that Native American men were fearless when working at great heights. Many Kahnawake men continued to work as iron and steelworkers across Canada. In 1907, thirty-three Kahnawake (Mohawk) lost their lives in the Quebec Bridge collapse, one of the most tragic construction disasters ever. This loss deeply affected the small community, which honored them by erecting steel girder crosses at both ends of the reserve.

During the first half of the 20th century, numerous Kahnawake ironworkers moved to New York City to work amid its building boom, which saw the rise of famous skyscrapers and bridges. For over a generation, many Kahnawake men helped build landmarks like the Empire State Building and other major NYC skyscrapers and bridges. They brought their families with them, with most Mohawk from Kahnawake settling in Brooklyn, where they named their neighborhood “Little Caughnawaga” after their homeland.

While the men worked on towering structures, the women built a strong community for their families, with many also working outside the home. Each summer, families would return to Kahnawake to visit relatives and strengthen their ties. Some who grew up in Brooklyn still carry the local New York accent, even after years back in Kahnawake.

Notable Kahnawakehro

• Taiaiake Alfred (born 1964), Kahnawà:ke Mohawk, professor and activist
• Tammy Beauvais, fashion designer
• John Kim Bell (born 1952), conductor, first Indigenous Canadian to conduct a symphony orchestra
• A. Brian Deer (1945–2019), librarian, scholar
• Beatrice Deer (Mohawk/Inuk, born 1985), singer and actress
• Esther Louise Georgette Deer, Princess White Deer (1891–1992), Kahnawá:ke Mohawk dancer and singer
• Tracey Deer (born 1978), two-time Gemini Award-winning filmmaker, for her documentary Club Native (2008). She also made the short Mohawk Girls. She was producer/director/writer to adapt it as a television series, Mohawk Girls, which ran on CBC for five seasons from 2014 to 2017.
• Marion Konwanénhon Delaronde (born 1977), director and puppeteer
• Don Eagle (1925–1966), 1950 American Wrestling Association champion as Chief Don Eagle.