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A no man’s land stood between two rooms of the Bonaventure Hotel in downtown Montreal last Friday: on one side, Quebec held a public dialogue session surrounding the province’s French language laws in the context of Indigenous rights, and on the other, the Assembly of First Nations Quebec-Labrador (AFNQL)

Though many graduates from McGill University hang their diplomas on their walls with pride, recent graduate Josh Swain, who is Red River Metis from Kinosota, is excited to display something other than a special piece of paper to mark his achievements: a beautiful, handcrafted graduation stole designed by Kahnawa’kehró:non Tammy Beauvais.

Decades ago, Kanehsata’kehró:non Lynda Nicholas asked her children to promise never to sell the plot of land that had once belonged to her father.

After a triumph in court against some of Quebec and Canada’s biggest institutional bodies, the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers)

Alexis Shackleton has been named Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre (KMHC)’s first-ever ombudsperson, a role created specifically to respond to complaints, conduct investigations, and make recommendations for recourse.

On a week that thrust Kanesatake’s troubles into countrywide headlines, Wanda Gabriel guided a cohort of McGill University students through the aspects of the community that are a source of pride.

Planting Day saw many Kahnawa’kehró:non tend to their yards over the past weekend. And some gathered at the community garden to plant heaps of seeds.

The efforts of an anonymous group of Kanehsata’kehró:non has brought a deluge of attention to Kanesatake with the urgent message that the community has fallen into a “state of lawlessness and danger.” An open letter circulating amongst journalists and politicians names scourges such as toxic dump sites, dangerous criminal activity, and land “being stolen piece by piece by land developers and assimilated Mohawks treating Kanien’kehá:ka Homelands as if they were all for the taking.” In part by providing a trove of related documents, the group sparked a La Presse investigation into G&R Recycling that brought the issue roaring back into mainstream discourse.

The Quebec government will be contributing $11 million to the new multi-purpose building project, which is set to house the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KOR), Turtle Island Theatre, and Kahnawake Tourism.

“I remember when I was 18, I would have never imagined something like this happening,” said Tahatie Diabo. “Being a gay man, we’ve come a long way.” On Wednesday, Kahnawa’kehró:non gathered in the Kahnawake Shakotiia’takehnhas Community Services (KSCS)