Safeguarding the Shoes
Written by Paul Graif on 13 October 2021
A familiar tribute is being removed today from the St-Francis Xavier Church in Kahnawake. Michael Diabo and Ryan Montour are on a mission today to remove the symbolic shoes in front of the Church to protect them from the elements of the fall and winter season, Diabo will be safeguarding the shoes:
“There has already been ceremonies, the shoes have been released. I’m sitting here with a council member right now, Ryan Montour. So he and I are here, right now and we’re going to remove the shoes. I’m going to store them at my place until we make a decision on how to properly dispose of them, what we should do with them. Because I’m not just going to throw them in the garbage or bury them in a hole, I need everybody’s input on this, but they have to be removed now.”
The MCK’s Ryan Montour is accompanying Diabo saying the 215 continue to deserve to be protected:
“I did consult with the women outside of the Church at one point and what they said, it wasn’t their doing, so the people that were asked to already have them removed, Michael was at a meeting with myself at band council and we just decided to come here and do it for the community.”
A final decision on what to do with the shoes will be up to the community at large.
