Left to right: Elaine Beattie, Nancy Dodman, Caro Penny, Jordan Murray
Iona Dedication of the Mohawk Bible
I write this to you from Canada, Turtle Island (Stolen Land).
On June 26, 2024, a new Mohawk Translation of the Bible was presented to Iona Abbey by a group of Canadian Pilgrims.
Despite years of the Canadian government and the churches trying to take the ‘Indian’ out of the First Nations peoples especially by taking the children away and refusing their languages leading to the horrors of residential schools, a remnant remains.
The translation took over seventeen years to complete and was led by Harvey Satewas Gabriel, now in his mid-eighties, an elder of the Bear Clan living in Kanasetake which is a Mohawk settlement in southern Quebec. The translation was supported by the Canadian Bible Society, the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. When the European colonizers arrived, one of their goals was to Christianize the peoples. But the spirituality and worship of the Creator by the first peoples was already there and strong.
Read Sherman – Iona Associate Member and United Church Minister in Montreal – knows Harvey and his wife and wanted this Bible to be at Iona Abbey – available for all and a testament of God’s steadfast love in spite of the darkness of colonization. He called me in the spring of 2024 and asked if I knew anyone who was going to Iona! Did I? Well, Garry and I were leading a group from our church in London, Ontario on Pilgrimage to Iona in June! Delighted to take this sacred book with us. Coincidentally, perhaps, Elaine Beattie, another United Church Minister from Ontario was at the Abbey that week. She knows Harvey Satewas Gabriel and can speak some Mohawk and so was able to read from Genesis at the dedication, to the glory of God. George MacLeod spoke of that kind of ‘coincidence’.
Current issues in Canada with First Nations peoples include, historic and ongoing lack of clean drinking water on many reserves including one very close to our city of London. Indeed the fresh water pipes run past the reserve but First Nations peoples are not tapped in! Other issues front and center just now include missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, a teen suicide rate 10x the national average, a disproportionate number of Indigenous people that are incarcerated.
In 2015 after years of consultation with those affected by the legacy of Indian residential schools, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada delivered a report with 94 calls to action – some of which have been acted upon. Much work remains 9 years later.
And yet, last month in the Ontario legislature an MPP rose in question period to pose a question in Cree!
And yet, Canada now has a First Nation Premier in the province of Manitoba and our Governor General Mary Simon is bilingual not in French and English but in English and Inuktitut.
The Anglican diocese of Huron (where I reside) has a Regional Dean of Reconciliation & Indigenous Ministry who is herself First Nations. Change is in the wind. The Spirit is moving.
It was an honour to deliver the Mohawk translation to Iona Abbey and Warden Caro Penny, leaving a token of hope.
For further understanding of the effects of colonization, especially in Canada, a resource list: Canadian Reconciliation resources. And we also include the prayers of forgiveness given by Jordan Murray at the dedication: Prayers for Mohawk Bible_Iona
Nancy Dodman
Associate Member
Regional Coordinator for Canada Region
Iona Trustee
London, Ontario, Canada
USA North East