Oka Inn gets a facelift
The Oka Inn in Tioweró:ton is under renovation, with construction debris accumulating beside the house last week. Courtesy Michelle Lamouche
Renovations have begun at the Mohawk Council of Kanesatake (MCK) cabin in Tioweró:ton, known as the Oka Inn, after Council dropped an attempt to apply funding towards a second cabin.
Last year, Council had planned to use funding towards the construction of a second cabin, but snowfall made it difficult to survey a new location, said caretaker council member Brant Etienne.
“The funding had to be allocated before spring, so we wouldn’t have had time to go up there, after the snow melted,” said Etienne.
“So the decision was made to renovate the existing Oka Inn.”
Renovations at the Oka Inn will include repairing the existing building, such as replacing the windows, door, roof, and any other parts of the building that need modernization, said Etienne. There will still be no running water or electricity, and the layout will remain the same.
Council quickly abandoned the idea of tearing down the building early in the project.
“I said over my dead body. No freaking way - that building is staying up,” said caretaker council member Serge Otsi Simon. “It’s been there over 100 years, and it’s going to be there another 100 if I have my way.”
Etienne said “there’s actually a pretty strong sentiment in Council and the departments that it’d be a shame to totally tear down the Oka Inn. People have memories of that place going with family and friends over the generations.”
Community member Karyn Murray cherishes many memories of staying at the Oka Inn with her family.
“Right across from the Oka cabin there’s a little brook, and you can fish in there,” said Murray.
“It helps disconnect and reconnect to nature. When you go out there, it almost screams of ancestral teachings just being in that presence.”
Even when she last went there in the late 2000s, the building was in need of repairs, said Murray. She recalls doing small fixes while she was there and hearing of other community members doing the same.
Simon said there is a possibility some of the interior items of the cabin may be replaced, such as the wood stove. Etienne said some of the furniture may be replaced as well.
The work on the building is being done by a construction company based in Kahnawake, said Etienne.
“From the tenders we received, they were the most competitive,” said Etienne.
The MCK did not seek community input on the renovations. The work being done is mainly to make the building safer, said Etienne.
Community member Michelle Lamouche said the MCK should strive to get community input if another community cabin were to be built. She said the current location has a high volume of traffic passing nearby during the summer.
“A more peaceful location would be best,” said Lamouche, who is also a manager at the Kanesatake Employment and Training Service Center. “Also safer for children.”
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Etienne said building another cabin will most likely be left to the next elected council.
“I don’t know if it’ll be in what remains of our mandate. That’s the wall we’re working against right now,” said Etienne.
“We had funding to do this. We’re doing it. The future we’ll leave to the future.”
Hadassah Alencar, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
