Plenty still to come for Cultural Awareness Month

Cultural Awareness Month is well underway, an opportunity to soak in and express the history and culture of Kahnawake.

The Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KOR) is holding events and activities every day.

These include classes and workshops like the ribbon skirt and ribbon shirt making classes, smoke dance classes, and traditional singing classes, as well as one-off special events such as the Wáhta radio show on April 16 – hosted this year from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on K1037 Radio as a celebration of elders who speak Kanien’kéha – and the 2025 Language Symposium happening at the end of the month.

So far, KOR’s cultural development manager Ohontsakéhte Montour said the response to the events has been overwhelmingly positive.

“As soon as an event is posted, the class becomes full. We have actually added some additional classes because of the demand,” said Montour.

“If something interests you, I encourage you to sign up and try it.”

Another recurring activity happening in April is a special guided tour of the Language and Cultural Center, given every Wednesday from noon to 1 p.m. The tour is free, open to everyone, and is given by Kahnawake Tourism. Registration is done online on the KOR’s website, with the entirety of the tour happening inside the Language and Cultural Center.

“We try to give as much information as we can in that one hour about the community, about our history,” said Bronwyn Johns, public relations officer for the Kahnawake Welcome Center.

That information includes the history with the English and the French crowns, how Kahnawake in its present form came to be, and the Siege of Kanehsatake.

Johns said that the first day of the tour saw representatives from Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS) - one local and one not - as well as a tourist family from India and tourism industry representatives from Montreal.

“I think it’s really nice to see that there’s a lot of people from so many different backgrounds that are making the effort to come here to learn, that’s what’s going to really help with truth and reconciliation,” said Johns.

To her, these tours for Cultural Awareness Month allows Kahnawake to share its culture and history outside the community on top of the cultural celebrations.

“A lot of people are unaware of our history. It’s not necessarily being taught in schools outside of the community,” said Johns. “Inside of the community, we obviously are doing our work to teach the true history, but outside of the community, it’s not in the school curriculum.”

Montour said that the efforts to teach the history and culture of Kahnawake have been very worthwhile, and the popularity of Cultural Awareness Month is a testament to that.

“This is my fifth Cultural Awareness Month and each time it has gotten bigger and bigger. For me it’s a time to celebrate who we are and what we are doing for our language and culture. It’s also an excellent opportunity for community members to connect and learn together.”

The full calendar of Cultural Awareness Month events hosted by KOR can be found on their Facebook page and website.

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