First Nations libraries in Ontario celebrate community and nostalgia

As part of First Nation Public Library Week, Kanhiote Public Library in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory is hosting afternoon teas.

On Tuesday, Librarian Haley Brant said they like holding community events where "everybody can just come and be social."

"I think that it's super beneficial for the people in our community because we're losing that connectedness as we move out into the bigger, wider world," she said.

First Nation Public Library Week in Ontario runs Oct. 1-4 and is part of Canadian Library Month. It started in 2000 as a way to raise local awareness of the public library's role in the community and showcase cultural uniqueness through creative library programming. "Remember When" is this year's theme, involving programs that promote visiting, sharing, and reminiscing.

At Kanhiote Public Library's tea, tiny sandwiches filled with egg salad, cucumber or smoked salmon, scones and preserves, fruit tarts and teas were served. Photos and newspaper clippings on backdrops displayed Tyendinaga's history.

Guests were asked to share a cherished memory of Tyendinaga on a sheet of paper provided alongside their cup and saucer.

They included memories of the Mohawk Agricultural Fair, like the horse pull and the dance which would follow. Kanien'kehá:ka veterans were also remembered.

Ken Claus, a former teacher and principal at Quinte Mohawk School, was born and raised in Tyendinaga and said memories came flooding back to him, like going to races at the Mohawk Dragway when he was young.

The Mohawk dragway hosted races between people from the community as well as celebrities like hockey legend Bobby Hull and former Toronto Maple Leaf Eddie Shack in a grudge match back in 1966.

"We were young teenagers then and we'd come in by rowboat at the back end of the drag races so we could walk across the field to watch," Claus said.

The memories will be compiled into a small book titled Our Collective Memory.

Brant said the events are about "trying to entice those memories from the community and hopefully create more."

A community hub for more than 30 years

Karen Lewis, now a library board member, remembered when it first opened back in 1990. She said the community really needed its own library.

"There's a lot of material now by Native authors, but at the time there wasn't, and you really had to check for stereotypes and bias in all the books," Lewis said.

"If you wanted to look into Native history or literature or anything like that, you had to travel either to Akwesasne, who had a library, or to Trent University."

Now, in addition to a collection of Indigenous literature with an emphasis on Kanien'kehá:ka culture, the library has a collection of Kanien'kéha language resources, a creative space for arts and crafts, and musical instruments, fishing tackle and rods and provincial park passes that patrons can check out. The library also offers evening programming where band members can trace their family trees.

Other events for First Nation Library Week this week include music trivia mornings and film screenings.