Warning! Is York University Setting up "False Experts" on the Onkwehonwe?

MNN. Jan. 25, 2007. A bizarre story came to our attention recently. It is about the appropriation of Indigenous knowledge by setting up phony experts. It’s been going on for a long time.

York University of Toronto recently advertised for a chair of “Environmental Studies”. They asked for a doctorate degree or equivalent. If they’re so keen to fill this position, why did they invited someone who, at best, may have finished high school? This guy is trying to squeeze as much as he can out of his “C-31 card” issued by the Canadian government. They’re given to those who are willing to help the colonists make our ways irrelevant.

How do frauds like this become the “experts of choice”? They are willing to fulfill the stereotype that colonial society has created to serve their own agenda. They know how to “play the game”. They are ready to get out the feathers and wave the warrior flag. They can do this better than any of us.

There have been many: Charlie Smoke turned out to be a white man from Tennessee. Gray Owl turned out to be a British white man. Buffalo Child Long Lance turned out to be a black man from southern U.S. Paul Williams, a lawyer, who passes himself off as an Onondaga, was given the name “Rah no wa iaks” by the Mohawks.

International conventions that Canada has signed stipulate that education, political, economic, social and cultural institutions must now present the Onkwehonwe perspective. Suddenly all sorts of university professors and other “experts” have found long lost Onkwehonwe ancestors that they can use to build their reputation. They can take scholarships and positions that should go to real Onkwehonwe.

There’s more to this than meets the eye. One applicant for the York University job claims to be Mohawk according to his definition of having one ancestor among his eight great grandparents. He never lived with “his [Onkwehonwe] people”. He claims to speak Mohawk fluently. His vocabulary consists of about 5 words. He cannot even pronounce his own Mohawk name.

Does someone who just got his C-31 card qualify as an equivalent to a Phd in Mohawk culture? In order to get a doctorate you first complete high school. Then you go to university and get good marks. You have to show you can do academic research by getting a master’s degree. You have to show you can do something original by getting a doctorate. The whole process usually takes at least 7 to 12 years.

Real training in Indigenous culture begins in infancy and lasts for a lifetime. It begins with the naming ceremony and continues as a lifelong role of service to our people.

How does York University decolonize their minds enough to be able to find someone from a pre-colonial culture? They certainly cannot be the judges of our culture and they certainly can’t be teaching about us to their non-native students. They seem ready to commit fraud on our people against their students by pretending to deliver knowledge about a field they know nothing about.

There are many qualified Onkwehonwe people out there who can do this. We never needed to defer to people who don’t have any clue about us. Universities should have some kind of standards. They don’t. They have an agenda.

In Ontario, the region where York University is situated on Six Nations land, our people have always been concerned with making sure our youth are well educated both about our history and rights and about the colonizing society.

This ploy isn’t new. Tom Flanagan is one of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s current advisors on “Indian” issues. He never visited an Indigenous community, yet Queens-McGill Press published his book about how to “resolve” our issues.

This is vicious state funded colonization of the worst kind. It is part of the ongoing public disinformation campaign that doesn’t pause for a second despite credible academic work that has been done by scholars like Olive Dickason and Sarah Carter.

This scam is about cultural appropriation in the most insidious and disgusting form. Corporate interests get big tax breaks for making donations to universities. They can do this because of the resources they took off us. Their donation is spit compared to the value of the resources they want to keep control of.

They kill two birds with one stone. They damage our image and credibility. If they go ahead with their plan, the shit is bound to hit the fan eventually. We will get smeared as usual even though we had nothing to do with it. It’s all being done in our name. The public is already conditioned to see us in a disreputable light. We can’t get information out there that is fair, honest and truthful.

The York University model raises questions about such attacks as the constant vilification of Ward Churchill, a tenured professor at the University of Colorado. He is being bashed by politicians, academics and media alike over his critiques of U.S. colonial society in well footnoted writings such as “A Little Matter of Genocide”.

We know graduate students in Canadian universities who are being threatened with not getting their degrees unless they omit evidence that supports Indigenous rights. Many drop out of law school or other graduate studies because of hostility or actual refusal to accept our knowledge of our history. Those who do make it through the system can only survive by having an independent income.

Here’s another take about the role played by the corporations and their financial institutions. To take over all the resources of the world we, the original owners, are being attacked, displaced or eliminated.

It seems the more Onkwehonwe ancestry we have and the closer our ties to our original territory, the more dangerous we are to societies which are homogenized? They have come to feel they don’t belong on our territory and that they are intruding on our land. If we disappear, do they think that they can assert a position as the new owners of the land?

Because we are part of our territories, we have natural tie and abilities to this part of the land. Those who want to assert themselves and take all our resources have to get rid of us. Modern genetic engineering has reached new heights. Onkwehonwe blood has been gathered by multinational corporations around the world. Why? Could they be trying to create a race that is Indigenous but is not? They may want a new species that is not tied to the land and who will fight to protect and save it. The landless don’t belong anywhere and will dissipate it. We Onkwehonewe are constantly encouraged to mix with other races. Many even brag about being “Heinz 57” variety.

Here is the “Pandora’s Box”. York University is ready to hire a charlatan because he can play out the stereotype that the colonial society has created for itself. We know that charlatans can be dangerous. They can switch sides at anytime. They can be for you or agin’ you! We are the only people who can say we belong here, unless, of course, they eliminate us. They can snuff our voices by putting a “pseudo Indian” puppet on their throne in the university and tell him what to do and say. York University seems ready to continue attacking us by letting loose a two-pointed arrow, one aimed at the Onkwehone and the other end at its own students.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News