On Wednesday, October 5th, at 7 pm, the Fishing & River Use Team of the Akwesasne Cultural Restoration Program will visit Schnitzels in Cornwall to present at the River Institute’s monthly Science and Nature on Tap.  Centuries’ old legacy knowledge of the River will be fused with 21^st century knowledge for a unique presentation entitled “Making the River New Again” at Schnitzels Restaurant.

For centuries the Mohawk people cultivated and hunted the land and fished the waters of the St. Lawrence River in sustainable ways, very much in tune with the nature around them and the seasons.  However, decades of industrial pollution from both sides of the River have eroded many traditional practices and the generational understanding that guided this inherent sustainability.  Early in 2014, the Mohawk community of Akwesasne began a land-based and language-infused cultural apprenticeship program that gives learners the opportunity to apprentice with master knowledge-holders to learn traditional, land-based, cultural practices, including hunting and trapping, medicinal plants and healing, fishing and water use, as well as horticulture and black ash basket making.

The Akwesasne Cultural Restoration (ACR) program or the “A:se Tsi Tewa:ton Experience”, was designed through a collaborative community-based effort to counter the cultural impacts of environmental contamination that occurred in the area from the 1930s through the 1980s.  Formed after a ten-year process of research, community consultation, and program design, ACR is the community’s active response to cultural loss as a result of industrial chemical contamination.  It is a means of restoring indigenous connections to both the land and the River.  By re-capturing environmental understanding of the past and accessing the wisdom provided by the elders, a new generation is re-establishing a physical bond with the natural world.  In turn, these students become teachers as they become able to share this hands-on expertise with others within their own community and beyond.

Norman Peters, a Master Teacher with the Akwesasne Cultural Restoration Program says, “Our goal is the re-learning of cultural fishing and river-use practices.” He adds, “It can be a challenge teaching old ways in modern times, he acknowledges, but kids usually are interested and want to learn the traditional approaches. We try to re-live as our grandparents and ancestors did,” Peters said. “It’s a blending of the two, (traditions and modern ways).”

The public is invited to explore the absorbing world of traditional environmental knowledge through the Akwesasne Cultural Restoration Fish and River Use Group at this free session, hosted by the St. Lawrence Institute of Environmental Sciences, at Schnitzels European Flavours in Cornwall.  However, space is limited so if you would like more information or to reserve a seat please call (613) 936-6620 or e-mail kcooper@riverinstitute.ca or visit the River Institute website at www.riverinstitute.ca.

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Media Contact:

Karen Douglass Cooper

Communications / Community Outreach Officer

St. Lawrence River Institute of

Environmental Sciences

2 St. Lawrence Drive

Cornwall, ON  K6H 4Z1

kcooper@riverinstitute.ca

www.riverinstitute.ca

(613) 936-6620 (ext.229)