The Konon:kwe Council held Weaving Webs of Women’s Wisdom at the Tsionkwanatiio Heritage Grounds in Akwesasne. The conference ran from Monday, August 27th through Thursday August 30th. Registration was Monday along with a ceremony welcoming the travelers who have come from all over to attend. The travelers were welcomed and their meeting was handled through a protocol that would have governed the meeting between nations. There was a runner sent from one group to the other and asking if they come in peace, or they come in war, and through a series of exchanges eventually both groups will sing a song, one announcing their arrival with peaceful intentions, and the other welcoming the visitors to our community.

Tuesday began with an opening ceremony and tobacco burning. As well as an edge of the woods ceremony, which will unburden the women here from the stresses of travel, and other stresses they carry as sensitive beings. I spoke with Randi Rourke Barreiro, one of the members of the Kanon:kwe council and asked what was the purpose for the event.

“What we want to do here is restore the power and remember it, and do the ceremonies, do the presentations, do the talking, do the visiting. You know, the things we do that strengthen our community, rather than refer to a book that was written 75 years ago, or referring to someone else’s research on us.” Barreiro said. Through the exchange of ideas, and through the process of doing, they hope to learn, grow, and share the things that make us powerful, and maybe more specifically make women powerful, as the givers of life. Barreiro added, “This is us doing this, so it becomes so much stronger, because everyone here participates, and because you learn so much by doing.”

The Kanon:kwe council is a group formed in 2009 that aims to strengthen and empower women, and also seeks to end the increasing violence against women in Akwesasne. Taken from their website: “Konon:kwe Council is a women-led community-based organization that exists to reconstruct the power of our origins through collaborative approaches to the care, empowerment, and transformation of a traumatized indigenous community.”

Women from the Ojibwe, Navajo, Hopi, Innu, and Gwich’in from Alaska were some of the 25 different indigenous nations represented at the conference, and it was open to men as well.