Get out of our canoe

THE dozen chiefs who make up the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake expected criticism when they began presenting eviction notices this month to 25 non-natives living on their 13,000-acre (5,260-hectare) reserve just south of Montreal. They hoped Canadians would understand their desire to protect a threatened language and culture, and refrain from interfering in internal Mohawk affairs. But many saw their action as a racist and illegal denial of Canada’s constitutional Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Despite centuries of coexistence, the First Nations, as Canada’s indigenous people call themselves, and other Canadians still live in mutual incomprehension. For a start the Mohawks do not see themselves as Canadians.

当组成卡纳瓦基莫霍克人委员会的12位酋长于本月初开始将驱逐告示向居住在他们居留地[1.3万英亩（5260公顷），靠近蒙特利尔以南]上的25位非本族人宣示时，酋长们预料会受到指责。酋长们希望加拿大人能够理解其保护已受到威胁的语言和文化的愿望，保持克制，不干预莫霍克人的内部事务。但许多人认为，莫霍克人的行为是一种种族歧视，是与加拿大权利与自由宪章相悖的。尽管彼此共存已达几个世纪，自称原住民的加拿大土著人与其他加拿大人仍然生活在互不理解中。莫霍克人自始不认为自己是加拿大人。更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

The council passed a bylaw in 1984, supported by the majority of the reservation’s 8,000 residents, which stipulated that a person must have at least four Mohawk great grandparents to live or own property there. Any Mohawk who marries a non-native must leave. “Everyone knows the law: if you marry out, you stay out,” says Joe Delaronde, a spokesman for the council. “If we don’t protect who we are, we will become Canadian citizens.”

1984年，委员会通过了一项获得保留地8000名居民中的大多数支持的公约，规定：[欲具备]莫霍克人资格必须至少有四个莫霍克血亲祖（外祖）父母在此地居住或在此地拥有其财产。与非本族人结婚的任何莫霍克人都必须离开。“此约人所共知：如你配偶非我族类，那你就得滚蛋”，委员会发言人乔德拉龙德说道，“如果我们不确保我们的血统，那我们就会成为加拿大公民”。

Not such a terrible fate, you might think. But the leaders of many First Nations have been fighting assimilation for centuries. The Kahnawake reserve was originally set up by the French in 1716, when the Mohawks were their allies against the British. Shortly afterwards, some French traders were asked to leave. There have been many evictions since. A more prosaic reason is that First Nations receive federal money for social services only for officially registered natives. Yet there has also been a long history of intermarriage and adoption of non-natives. “Everyone in the community has mixed ancestry,” says Matthieu Sossoyan, an anthropologist.

你可能会认为，不至于有此可怕劫数吧。而许多原住民的领导人已经为免于被同化奋斗了几百年。卡纳瓦基居留区最初于1716年由法国人建立，当时，莫霍克人是法国人反抗英国的同盟。不久之后，一些法国商人被要求离开。自此以后，发生了许多驱逐事件。更加无聊的是，把只有获得官方登记的本地原住民才能接受联邦社会福利资助作为驱逐的理由。然而，异族通婚和异族收养的传统也一直承传，历史悠久。人类学家马修说道：“在社会上每个人都已经混血了”。

Canada’s minister of Indian affairs admits the evictions make him “uncomfortable” but says he can do nothing because First Nations have the right to say who lives on reserves. The chiefs say that rather than the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, their relations with non-natives are governed by the Two-Row Wampum Treaty, agreed with Dutch traders in the 17th century. (The wampum, or beaded belt, showed two parallel lines on a pale background.) This called for mutual non-interference. “We stay in our canoe and you steer yours,” says Mr Delaronde.

加拿大印第安人事务部长坦承，驱逐事件让他“感到不安”，但无能为力。因为，原住民有权决定谁在居留地居住。酋长们说，与其遵守《权利和自由宪章》，倒不如尊崇确定与非土著人关系的条约《the Two-Row Wampum Treaty》（易洛魁联盟与荷兰政府代表于17世纪签订，The wampum也叫 beaded belt，表示在灰白背景下的两条平行线）。该条约主张互不干涉。德拉龙德先生对此表述为：“我划我的独木舟，你开你的大洋船”。