No home for new books

Well over 1,000 books were recently donated to the Kahnawake library. Unfortunately for community members, those 78 boxes of books remain locked up at the old water filtration plant across from the hospital, as the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) has yet to open a temporary location to re-open the essential service missing since the summer.

The generous donation of books came out of an Orange Shirt Day initiative organized by Canada’s Privy Council Office (PCO) in late September. The week-long book drive in Ottawa came together thanks to Todd Kuiack, the Indigenous champion there.

“I thought perhaps we could get one book for every employee that works here at the Privy Council Office, and we certainly exceeded that,” Kuiack said.

Both he and Council chief David Diabo are former colleagues and met while working together at Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) roughly nine years ago.

Kuiack had gotten in touch with Diabo soon after his election to congratulate him. It was then the two got to talking about the Skawenni:io Tsi Iewennahnotáhkhwa library, at which point Kuiack offered to run the book drive.

The library is currently at risk of collapse and has been shuttered in mid-July. The building, which dates from the early 1900s, is expected to be demolished sometime between now and the spring.

“I explained to him the situation of the library, that they’re moving, and the state of the current building that they were using for the library. And that when they move, they’re going to have more space,” Diabo said.

The book drive for the library wrapped up on October 4. It was the day after, a Saturday, that he and Council chief Jeremiah Johnson went over to Ottawa to help load the books in a trailer destined to Kahnawake. Kuiack came along for the voyage, hooking up the trailer to his personal vehicle.

“I look back on the teachings of judge Murray Sinclair, who said, ‘Education got us into this mess, and education will get us out,’” said Kuiack, an Algonquin from Pikwàkanagàn First Nation in the Ottawa Valley. “Books are so important. Growing up I remember our little library in my community in the school basement, and just how important that was in my life.”

Temporary location to open soon

The 78 boxes of books donated are currently sitting alongside the rest of the library’s books at the old water filtration plant, Diabo said. He added they made sure to avoid placing them in any humid areas to prevent damage.

Diabo’s brother Jeffrey Diabo, the Council chief on the education file, shared this week with The Eastern Door the hope is to have a temporary location for the library open by February of next year.

The plan is have it operate out of the double-wide trailer currently used by the Kahnawake Labour Office (KLO). Some library staff have already been working out of the space since the closure of the library building.

“The February 2025 target is for the library to have the entire space in the double-wide trailer,” Jeffrey said. “They’ll take possession of that until we do whatever we can to find them a permanent home.”

A small selection of the library’s books will be available there for community members to rent out. There’s also a plan to rent and install a trailer next door to increase their storage capacity, Jeffrey said.

“What they want is a portion of their inventory made available so that they can go and take the books that they need, like for their afterschool sessions,” he said.

Labour office staff currently working out of the double-wide trailer will need to find another space to work for the plan to work out, but luckily there is space across the street in the former Okwari Arts building. The owner is up to leasing it to the labour office, Jeffrey said.

He added they considered using the arts building to house the library, but had been told by its staff it didn’t meet their needs.

Renovations will need to happen in the arts building before labour office staff can move into it, Jeffrey said, to ensure its up to code.

Library staff were invited to comment for this story, but The Eastern Door didn’t hear back by deadline.

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