Mohawk Mothers Say: Potential Remains Found
Written by Jeremy Zafran on 30 June 2023
Cadaver dogs’ findings of potential human remains at Montreal’s old Royal Vic on June 15th, were presented to Quebec Superior Court Justice, Gregory Moore, yesterday. The discovery is a huge development in the Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera’s opposition to construction on the site since 2015. The search was conducted as part of an agreement between the group and McGill, to investigate the potential presence of unmarked graves in an area the university wants to redevelop. One of the Mohawk Mothers, Kahentinetha, that there’s a lot of work left to be done:
“It’s a long fight, it’s going to go on for a while and we got a tremendous decision from the judge. He does tale into account the way we present the case which is through the Kaianerekowa (or Great Law of Peace) and the way we see things. We told him, we need to find these children and we ask the spirit of these children to help us, to guide us, to find us.”
Kahentinetha says there’s more there than people may realize:
“No argument about it, there were human remains found, at least so far. We now have to go beyond that, so, that’s where we’re at right now.”
The Kanien’kehá:ka Kahnistensera will be back to present their next steps on July 14th.
