Back on the Rez: Finding the Way Home

John Steckley teaches human studies at Hunter College in Toronto.

In the fall of 1993, Mohawk writer and broadcaster Brian Maracle
returned to the Six Nations Reserve in southwestern Ontario that is
otherwise known as “the Rez.”

Maracle writes with remarkable honesty about both his own personal
flaws and those of the community he cherishes. We learn in particular
about the sometimes intense factionalism found at Six Nations: about the
political divisions that have plagued the community since the federal
government imposed an unpopular elected system in 1924; about the
religious split between the “Lakers” (followers of the Code of
Handsome Lake) and the Mohawk traditionalists. The author also sheds
light on how the major local industry—the cigarette trade—was
devastated by the tax cuts introduced by the federal and provincial
governments.

A relatively minor criticism concerns Maracle’s presentation of the
Mohawk language. Although it is for the most part academically sound,
there is occasional unsubstantiated speculation concerning the
relationship of the structure of the Mohawk language to how the people
think and express these thoughts.