Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell | |
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Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell (or simply Mike Mitchell) is a longtime Canadian Mohawk politician, pioneering First Nations film director and a leading figure in First Nations lacrosse. First elected to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne in 1982, he began his first term as Grand Chief in 1984. [1] He served on the Mohawk Council almost continuously for more than 30 years, having been reelected as Grand Chief as recently as 2012. [2] [3]
Prior to entering politics, Mitchell studied and directed films with the National Film Board as part of its Indian Film Crew. His films include the 1969 documentary film about the 1969 Akwesasne border crossing dispute, You Are on Indian Land , for which he belatedly received directorial credit almost 50 years after its completion. For the future Grand Chief, the experience of making You Are on Indian Land blurred the lines between filmmaking and politics:
I was filming the meetings, but I was also asking questions and giving my own views, and I soon became identified as one of the spokesmen [for the community]; they asked that I be part of the delegation that was going to Ottawa. So I was really playing both sides at the time.
— Tracey, [4]
Mitchell directed several more films on First Nations issues at the NFB, then worked with the North American Indian Traveling College (now Ronathahonni Cultural Centre) to set up replica of a traditional Mohawk settlement on Kawehno:ke (Cornwall Island) and produce educational material and videos that helped to spread Native culture awareness. [2]
He was one of several First Nations filmmakers honoured at a retrospective screening on February 25, 2017, at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Mitchell has stated that he is retired from politics after three decades and multiple terms as Grand Chief and intends to resume filmmaking. [4] [1]
Mitchell is the winner of a 2016 Indspire Award for his life in politics. [5]
Born into a lacrosse family, Mitchell played in the St. Regis, Cornwall Island and Cornwall Minor Lacrosse systems of eastern Ontario and western Quebec. [6]
Mitchell revived the Akwesasne Minor Lacrosse Association, enabling local Mohawk teams to once again compete in the Ontario Minor Lacrosse Association, and formed the Iroquois Lacrosse Association. In 1993, Mitchell was appointed to the Canadian Lacrosse Association's Board of Directors. In 2003, he was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame as a Special Contributor. In June 2014, he received the Lester B. Pearson Award from the Canadian Lacrosse Association for his work as "a leader, a contributor, an advocate and relentless promoter of the game." [6]
St. Regis Mohawk Reservation is a Mohawk Indian reservation of the federally recognized tribe the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, located in Franklin County, New York, United States. It is also known by its Mohawk name, Akwesasne. The population was 3,288 at the 2010 census. The reservation is adjacent to the Akwesasne reserve in Ontario and Quebec across the St. Lawrence River. The Mohawk consider the entire community to be one unit and have the right to travel freely across the international border.
The Mohawk people are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern New York State, primarily around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. As one of the five original members of the Iroquois League, the Mohawk are known as the Keepers of the Eastern Door – the traditional guardians of the Iroquois Confederation against invasions from the east.
Kanesatake is a Mohawk settlement on the shore of the Lake of Two Mountains in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Ottawa and Saint Lawrence rivers and about 48 kilometres (30 mi) west of Montreal. People who reside in Kanehsatà:ke are referred to as Mohawks of Kanesatake. As of 2022, the total registered population was 2,751, with a total of about 1,364 persons living on the territory. Both they and the Mohawk of Kahnawake, Quebec, a reserve located south of the river from Montreal, also control and have hunting and fishing rights to Doncaster 17 Indian Reserve.
The Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne is a Mohawk Nation (Kanienʼkehá:ka) territory that straddles the intersection of international borders and provincial boundaries on both banks of the St. Lawrence River. Although divided by an international border, the residents consider themselves to be one community. They maintain separate police forces due to jurisdictional issues and national laws.
J. Wilton Littlechild, known as Willie Littlechild, is a Canadian lawyer and Cree chief who was Grand Chief of the Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations and a member of Parliament. A residential school survivor, he is known for his work nationally and internationally on Indigenous rights. He was born in Hobbema, now named Maskwacis, Alberta.
The Ontario Lacrosse Association is a not-for-profit sport organization and a member association of the Canadian Lacrosse Association, the national governing body for lacrosse in Canada. The Ontario Lacrosse Association is the largest provincial lacrosse governing body within Canada. The mission of the OLA is to govern, improve, foster, and perpetuate the sport of lacrosse in Ontario. It was established in 1897.
The Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League (OJBLL) is a box lacrosse league sanctioned by the Ontario Lacrosse Association in Canada. The league features twenty-five teams in Ontario, one in Quebec, and one in the Akwesasne that annually play a 20-game schedule and four rounds of playoffs for the J. A. MacDonald Trophy. After the conclusion of the playoffs, a league champion represents the OJBLL at the Founders Cup National Junior B Championship.
Mitchell v MNR, [2001] 1 S.C.R. 911 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on aboriginal rights under section 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The court held that Mitchell's claim to an aboriginal right to import goods across the Canada–US border was invalid as he was unable to present enough evidence showing that the importation was an integral part of the band's distinctive culture.
The Akwesasne Indians are Junior "B" box lacrosse team from Akwesasne. The Indians compete in the OLA Junior B Lacrosse League.
The Six Nations Rebels are a Canadian Junior "B" box lacrosse team from Hagersville, Ontario on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve. The Rebels play in the OLA Junior B Lacrosse League. The Rebels hold the record for most Junior B national championships in Founders Cup history with seven.
CKON-FM is a private radio station located in Akwesasne, a Mohawk nation territory that straddles the Canada–United States border. The station's studios are located in the Akwesasne Communication Society Building; that building is itself on both sides of the international border, with part of it being in Hogansburg, New York, and part of it in Saint Regis, Quebec. The ACS building was deliberately constructed on the international border as a symbol of Mohawk defiance between Canada and the United States, as well as an expression of communal unity.
Greg A. Hill is a Canadian-born First Nations artist and curator. He is Kanyen'kehà:ka Mohawk, from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory, Ontario.
Cornwall Island is an island in the Saint Lawrence River, directly south of the city of Cornwall. The island is located completely within Canada, but it is also part of the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve, which straddles the Canada–United States border and the Quebec–Ontario border. The Seaway International Bridge, with a channel crossing on each side of the island, provides road access to Cornwall Island from both Canada and the United States.
The Can-Am Senior B Lacrosse League is a Senior-level Canadian and American box lacrosse league. The teams are located in the Southwestern Ontario and Upstate New York regions. Sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association, the champions of the Can-Am league compete for the Presidents Cup, the Canadian National Senior B championship. Can-Am teams have won the Presidents' Cup five times.
You Are on Indian Land is a 1969 documentary film directed by Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell about the 1969 Akwesasne border crossing dispute and the confrontation between police and Mohawk of the St. Regis Reservation on a bridge between Canada and the United States, which stands on Mohawk land near Cornwall, Ontario.
Tracey Penelope Tekahentakwa Deer is a screenwriter, film director and newspaper publisher based in Kahnawake, Quebec. Deer has written and directed several award-winning documentaries for Rezolution Pictures, an Aboriginal-run film and television production company. In 2008, she was the first Mohawk woman to win a Gemini Award, for her documentary Club Native. Her TV series Mohawk Girls had five seasons from 2014 to 2017. She also founded her own production company for independent short work.
Michael or Mike Mitchell may refer to:
The Iroquois or Haudenosaunee passport is a form of identification and an "expression of sovereignty" used by the nationals of the Six Nations.
The Three Nations Senior Lacrosse League (TNSLL) is a Senior B box lacrosse league based out of Ontario, Quebec and New York, sanctioned by the First Nations Lacrosse Association (FNLA). The league champion earns a spot in the Presidents Cup, the national championship of Senior B lacrosse in Canada.
First Nations Lacrosse Association is the governing body of lacrosse for First Nations within Canada and Native American tribes within the United States.