A Mohawk flag at the U.S.-Canadian border. Photo from Red Power Media
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe and the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne are divided by the U.S.-Canadian border:
Miss the roadside signs welcoming you to Akwesasne and it can be hard to know you've arrived - possibly in another country. Snowy winter streets begin in the United States and end in Canada with few tangible hints of a borderline. Some properties are even split between the two countries, with a living room in New York and a kitchen in Quebec. But the boundaries - international and internal, visible and invisible - that proliferate here matter. Centuries old, yet still contested, they shape the post-9/11 lives of Mohawk residents more than ever. Straddling the US-Canada border, which slices through the eastern half of the reserve and continues west with the St Lawrence River, the territory encompasses about 66sq km of peninsulas, islands and wetlands. The Native-American name Akwesasne, translates to "land where the partridge drums". It could also be described as a jurisdictional Frankenstein - a complex array of entities make claim to portions of the reserve or responsibility for its nearly 23,000 people, who live in roughly equal numbers on either side. "I never realised how complicated life is, how odd things are here when it comes to jurisdictions until I left," said Brian David, one of 13 tribal chiefs on the Canadian portion.Get the Story:
A Native-American nation divided (Al Jazeera 1/9)
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