Kanienkehaka / Mohawk naming still exists and honored

Recently, a very important issue has surfaced with the use of our Kanienkeha given names. Originally, our people in Ahkwesahsne were given one name at birth in a ceremony and this served the purpose of identification. That system was good judgment by our native communities and followed the Traditional way of naming children following a Matrilineal Society and Clan order. This system is still strong in our customs. The child born was the only one to hold the name given with no duplication by others until death. Well, after a couple of hundred years and the influence of colonization, the original process for name giving is still in place today. It is not the practice of the Kanienkehaka to tack on a surname or given name. It is only the clan given name you will hear and have recorded.

Now, there is disagreement coming from the Ontario and Quebec governments over the use of the Traditional name with no last name attached in the applications to get a registered birth certificate. A family in Ahkwesahsne is now very involved in trying to get these governments to accept the original system of our Native people with our names. In support of this worthy cause, there will be a Social to be held at the Mohawk Nation Longhouse this coming Saturday at 7pm. Also,” The Friends of the Freedom School” are willing to accept receipted donations to assist with expenses that may arise as this issue proceeds. More information will be given and details on how this family will move forward with the support of Ahkwesahsne. It is a worthy cause and our people should come over and hear this information.

Let’s assist the daughters of Sheree Bonaparte and Richard Skidders. Following, is the background information about this issue.

Why just our Kanien’keha name

By Ienonhkwa’tsheriiostha

I am Kanien’kehaka.

I am strengthened by my name, it identifies who I am. My name is not just a noun it is a full sentence in the Kanien’keha language. It has a meaning and purpose.

My name and our traditions connect me to the world in which we live. I am one with the Earth. I am united to our ancestors through spirit, our blood line and my name.

At our naming ceremony only a single Kanien’keha name is given to us by our clan and our nation. It is not our tradition to receive both a surname and given name. Surnames are a practice of Europeans, Canadians and other cultures. We are a matrilineal society and the names follow our female line.

If Ontario and Canada force me to adopt a surname it will force me to step outside our traditional practice. The Kanien’keha naming ceremony is a practice that existed prior to colonization; a practice that still exists.

Surnames have been forced on Native people for two hundred years but it was not always that way. Our records show that my ancestors were known by only their Kanien’kehaka names. Surnames were used for the convenience and practices of non-native peoples, not our people. The use of surnames followed the male line and had a rippling social effect on the status of women by undermining our natural place as keepers of the homeland and family. Attitudes toward women changed. I respect my father and the surname he carries, but with his blessing and support I will not continue such a fundamental change to our traditional naming practice by picking up a surname.

How it feels to have the Kanien’keha traditional cultural practice of naming be dismissed and to be forced to carry two names:

Frustrated: We have tried to get our naming tradition and the Mohawk Nation birth certificate recognized for decades. Canada has refused to recognize it since 2001 and the Ontario Registrar has denied my family since 1995.

Not accepted: Canadians and Ontario residents accept and understand that I only have a single name but their governments do not. I carry an Ontario Driver’s License, an OHIP card, and the public school system has recognized who I am. However, since 2001 HRSDC has refused to recognize the Mohawk Nation Certificate of Birth which forces me to apply to the Ontario Registrar for a document that will be accepted. Ontario will only issue me a delayed birth certificate if I use two names that follow their conventions.

Alienated: Being forced to identify my name as either a first name or a surname for the sake of a birth certificate alienates me from the Ontario government who does not understand or respect the importance of our names or traditions. Traditions that make our people strong. The Ontario government treats me as though the traditional naming conventions of the Kanien’kehaka people mean nothing and we have to comply with Canadian customs as though we do not exist. It makes me feel Ontario does not want us to exist.

The Canadian and Ontario government have alienated me by not recognizing my name as a legitimate name.

Not being able to work in Canada will force me to leave Canada and move to the United States to live and work. I have a right to work in either country since they both lie within our traditional territories. Not being issued a Social Insurance Number denies me that right.

Humiliated: It would make me feel like less of a person for not defending my traditional and cultural way of life. Therefore I would rather leave Canada.

Insignificant: The Canadian and Ontario government treat me as though the traditional naming conventions of the Kanien’keha people mean nothing and we have to comply to their customs as though we do not exist, when in fact complying with outside naming conventions has diminished the way my own relatives self-identify to the point where most of us do not even know each other by our Kanien’keha names.

Disrespected: People will not use our names if they can avoid it. They will shorten our names or just refer to us by our last names. They lose the beauty of the names by doing this.

Disconnected: from the outside government. How can I be a resident of a Country that does not recognize I exist?

Oppressed and unable to work and function within Canada’s economic world. Without a recognized birth certificate I cannot get a Social Insurance Number and therefore I cannot get a bank account, a job, or apply for post-secondary school. If security at the borders get stricter I will not be able to obtain ID that will ensure I can move about within my community unless I yield to Ontario’s demands.

People from other Nations have come to Canada with only one name and have become citizens with ease because they had birth certificates that were “recognized” by the Canadian government. I was born in Canada, educated in Canada and have lived here my whole life. In school they teach you that Canada is a “Cultural Mosaic’’ and the United States is a melting pot. Meaning Canada does not make the various people and cultures melt together to become the same, instead they embrace and accept the differences thus, forming a mosaic of the many cultures of Canada. That is not how they have actually treated the Mohawk/Kanienkehaka people; they have tried to change us to become better Canadian citizens in every way they could. Adapting their naming conventions is the first official way of doing so.

I do not feel as though I am being treated according to this idea, rather I am being forced to melt into what they wish me to be. Yet my own sister was born in Akwesasne on the southern portion (New York State) and was able to obtain a New York State birth certificate issued in her Traditional Kanien’keha name. One name. No questions asked.

Background:

My mother, Sheree Bonaparte, applied for a delayed registration of birth for me, Ienonhkwa’tsheriiostha, so that I could obtain a birth certificate. The first time that we applied, we were denied based on my name not conforming to the legislative requirement of a first and last name.

The Mohawk /Kanienkeha people are Native First Nations people whose traditional territories are in eastern Canada and the United States. Our people greeted the Non-Native people to our territories prior to the existence of Canada as a nation. Many agreements and treaties were signed by Mohawk/ Kanien’kehaka representatives with representatives of Canada. These agreements were signed by our representatives who used just one Mohawk/Kanien’keha name or title name. Canada still sees those signatures as legally binding.

As our territories were colonized European naming conventions were forced on our ancestors and over time our names and many of our ceremonies were hidden from the non-native people to avoid persecution or humiliation by people who did not understand the meaning of our name. We were forced to take on English and French names as first, middle and last names. That is not who I am, that is not the tradition of my people. For our people to be strong in who we are we have the right to start with our names. We should not be forced to endure the same discrimination that my grandmothers endured. As VSA is written we have only one choice, no birth certificate.

We are Onkwehonwe/Kanienkehaka (People of the Flint), Mohawks of Akwesasne, Bear Clan, living in our traditional territory or as Canada call us: Canadian Status Indians.

We are traditional Mohawk/Kanien’kehaka and it has always been our custom and practice that single Mohawk/Kanien’keha name is given to our children. Mohawk/Kanienkeha names are not like English names which have a first, middle and last name. Mohawk/Kanienkeha names are given to a Mohawk child by the Mohawk Nation in accordance with the traditions, ceremonies and ways of our people. To add an additional name, whether it is a first, last or middle name to a Mohawk given name is to disrespect that name, our traditions, our people and takes away from the Mohawk name’s beauty and meaning. Mohawk names impart a significant meaning and destiny for each Mohawk baby that is given such a name. No two names are alike in the traditional Mohawk practice of naming our children.

We received a Notice of Incomplete Application letter asking me to resubmit my application for delayed registration listing a first name in addition to my name. My mother’s second attempt to file a delayed registration of birth for me, Ienonhkwa’tsheriiostha, was denied on June 25, 2014. In the June 25, 2014 letter, we were informed that the application for a delayed birth registration would not be processed as there is no provision under the Vital Statistics Act that would permit Service Ontario ‘’to register the birth of a child whose name does not comply with the law.” Again, a new delayed statement and application for delayed registration has been provided to us with the requirement that it be completed ‘’in accordance with the naming requirements as set out in the VSA.”

Issue:

Section 10 of the Vital Statistics Act of Ontario imposes a discriminatory burden on me by forcing me to discard my identity as a Mohawk person and adopt a first name and surname contrary to my traditional beliefs, customs and practices as a member of the Mohawk/Kanienkehaka Nation. People from other nationalities are not asked to set aside their identity in order to obtain a birth registration.

Effects on the Applicant:

To be denied the birth registration because we practice our Mohawk/Kanien’keha customs and traditions by having a single Mohawk/Kanien’keha name is humiliating, dehumanizing and oppressive. Being forced to identify my name as either a first name or a surname for the sake of a birth certificate alienates me from the Ontario government who does not understand or respect the importance of our names or traditions. Traditions that make our people strong. The Ontario government treats me as though the traditional naming conventions of the Kanien’kehaka people mean nothing and we have to comply with Canadian customs as though we do not exist. It makes me feel Ontario does not want us to exist.

I feel disconnected and oppressed as I am unable to work and function within Canada’s economic world. Without a recognized birth certificate I cannot get a Social Insurance Number and therefore I cannot get a bank account, a job, or apply to post-secondary schools/funding or secured identification to cross the border from one part of my community to the other. I cannot obtain a Social Insurance Number despite the fact that I am a Status Indian within the meaning of the Indian Act, was born in Cornwall, Ontario and I am foremost, a member of the Mohawk/Kanienkehaka Nation, a Nation where single Mohawk/Kanien’keha names have been practiced since well before Europeans ever reached the shores of what is now North America.

DETAILS OF DISCRIMINATION:

Denial of birth registration of Mohawk/Kanienkehaka named persons prevents each of us from obtaining a birth certificate and other vital documents and denies me access to employment, post-secondary school and other services normally available to Ontario citizens and residents.

Since I cannot obtain a birth certificate, I cannot obtain a Social Insurance number and therefore cannot be employed in Canada.

I cannot open a bank account or obtain a secured identification.

We have been denied three times by Service Ontario (Registrar General) to register my birth a Mohawk/Kanien’keha person in an effort to force me to adopt a first name and surname contrary to my traditional beliefs, customs and practices as a member of the Mohawk/Kanienkehaka Nation, based on the discriminatory Vital Statistic Act.

Discrimination on the Grounds of Race, Colour, Ancestry, Place of Origin,

Citizenship or Ethnic Origin:

Service Ontario will recognize naming conventions of Europeans arriving in Ontario but will not recognize the naming convention of the Kanienkehaka people, who have always lived here in Canada. For example, recognition by Ontario of the English and French conventions of having a first, middle and last name but not allowing the Mohawk/Kanien’kehaka to use our naming conventions. A Mohawk/Kanienkehaka person receives his or her name through his or her mother’s clan and family. Discrimination against my race and ancestry exists when the practice of denying the birth registration of Mohawk/Kanienkehaka with a single Mohawk/Kanienkehaka name continues and we are required to adopt a first name and a surname before a birth can be registered or a birth certificate is issued to us. Requiring children to accept a surname of the father has contributed to a shift in Mohawk/Kanienkehaka society from a matrilineal society to patrilineal society.

Discrimination on the Ground of Creed (Faith, Religion or System of Beliefs)

Ontario denies recognition of the traditional practices of our system of beliefs of the rising of our single name, which is an integral part of our worldview (or creed as defined by Ontario). We are Traditional Longhouse people practicing our Mohawk/Kanienkeha customs, practices and beliefs.

My name is given to me by my clan and family. My children will be raised as Mohawk/Kanienkehaka in accordance with our ways.