The Tyendinaga Mohawk Reservation

I was unfortunately unable to attend the presentation at Quinte Mohawk school two weeks ago, so I wanted to research about the school and reservation and blog about my findings. In researching about Quinte Mohawk School, I found out that the school originally began with five other schools. The schools were created to escape the traditional practice of that time when it was more common for Aboriginal children to attend residential schools that were located off of their reservations and away from their communities and culture. These schools allowed for Aboriginal children to be educated in the Tyendinaga community where they are able to learn more about their culture. The four schools where named Central School, Eastern School, Western ("Swamp") School and Mission School. These schools were one-room schoolhouses with one teacher that was responsible for educating children ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 8. There was eventually a new school built known as the "The New School," and this school was operational until Quinte Mohawk was built in 1967.

The mission statement of Quinte Mohawk School states that the school is “committed to providing a safe and caring environment for all learners - a place wherein a supportive and dedicated staff can work with the community to enable its children to learn and succeed in becoming culturally aware, confident, skilled and prepared for the future.” I think that this mission statement is very appropriate considering our Culture and Diversity course this semester, as we are working on becoming more “culturally aware.” The school celebrates three seasonal festivals each year: Harvest Festival is the celebration of Thanksgiving, Mid-Winter Festival is the celebration of the cleansing of the Earth, and the Strawberry Festival is the celebration of the arrival of the first fruit. I also enjoyed reading that Quinte Mohawk School is a “Respect School,” and that it has a list of five agreements that the school practises. I feel that the third agreement which states “We take pride in our language and culture and respect others’ as well” is the most interesting agreement of them all, as they are trying to preserve their culture while also respecting others’. I think that this is very interesting considering this is precisely what we have to do as child and youth workers in the field. We need to understand our own culture, and respect the variety of different clients from different cultures that we will work with. I enjoyed hearing how supportive the school community was in showing our classmates around the school, and teaching them as much as possible about their culture.  

Quinte Mohawk School is located on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Reservation. The word Tyendinaga comes from the Mohawk leader’s (Joseph Brant’s) traditional Mohawk name, “Thayendanegea,” which means “two pieces of fire wood beside each other.” The reservation was formed in May of 1784 by a group of Mohawks led by John Deseronto.