https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PK3HMsFadGk 1,713 views 3 comments I'm sure my maternal grandfather from Cornwall, Ontario, Émile DESJARDINS, (because of the huge Mohawk population in the Cornwall area) is related to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, the 1st NATIVE SAINT of Canada who gets NO ATT- ENTION FROM THE VERY "PRETENTIOUS" CANADIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. As a result, VERY FEW CANADIAN CATHOLICS KNOW ABOUT THIS SAINT of the 1600s due to the "in-built", contemptible RACISM OF THE CANADIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH confirmed by THE INTENTIONAL " ABUSIVE" TREATMENT OF 1ST NATIONS BY THE GOV'T OF CANADA living in 3rd world conditions FORCED TO ENDURE "sub-standard" education, "sub-standard" health care whose communities have only 1 communal tap and are "forced" to boil their water as the dirty water pipe is close to the clean water pipe where 3 generation are living in a 1-room shack that is falling apart that does NOT ALWAYS have electricity. Cornwall, the home town of my maternal grandfather, Émile DESJARDINS, had A FRENCH FORT: the soldiers, there would marry the native women in the area. Many French-Canadian men had 1st Nation wives: most noteably the fur traders who would leave on nthere wilderness journey in the centre of the USA down the MIssissippi to NEW ORLEANS, a FRENCH-CANADIAN CITY, who would go from the Apalachian Mountains to the American + Canadian Rockies from Trois-Rivières (3 rivers) which is located in between Montreal + Quebec City. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trois-Rivi%C3%A8res https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Le_Moyne_de_Bienville https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_New_Orleans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Orleans Trois-Rivières is known for its Catholic shrine, Cap-de-la-Madeleine, wher my 1st Nations grandmother, Dora PIché made her confes- sion in the garden. :D https://www.sanctuaire-ndc.ca/en https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cap-de-la-Madeleine https://www.britannica.com/place/Cap-de-la-Madeleine It was often said the success of the fur traders, "Coureur des bois" (runner of the woods), was due to their 1st nation wives. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coureur_des_bois https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coureurs-de-bois Unfortunately, the French-Canadian Catholic Church, to which I belong, was ALWAYS RACIST and "disrespectful" towards 1s Nations who were seen as being "pro miscuous". :D The Church had a strangehold on the population: to get away you became "a coureur des bois". (Ha! Ha!) THE CHURCH "PROHIBITED" FRENCH- CANADIANS TO SPEAK OF THEIR "1ST NATION" STRONG HISTORICAL CON- NECTION. The natives have always been referred to as "les sauvages" (the savages) by the "pretenstious"French-Canadian Church + society in the Province of Quebec: that's just terrible, just plain nasty! THERE ARE A FEW IRONIES in all this. FIRST, the 1st Nations "showed" the French how to survive in Canada - especially during the COLD WINTERS. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY - AND ABOVE ALL - FRENCH-CANADIAN SOCIETY A- DOPTED THE 1ST NATION CULTURE 100% - EXCEPT FOR THE POW WOWS. THEIR LOVE OF FAMILY, THE COMMUNITY, HUNTING, FISHING, THE OUTDOORS, TELLING STORIES, LAUGHING, GENERAL COMARADERIE - ALL 1ST NATIONS - WHEREAS EUROPEANS KEEP TO THEMSELVES which is seen by French-Canadians as being ANTI- SOCIAL. ENGLISH CANADIANS CALL IT AS "MINDING YOU BUSINESS". THEY "READILY" REMIND FRENCH- CANADIANS "YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR ME. (FRENCH-CANADIAN COMMUNICATION DYNAMICS - AT ITS CORE - LIKE FIRST NATIONS, IS COMMUNAL. 1ST NATIONS LOVE TO JOKE AROUND + LAUGH: SO DO FRENCH-CANADIANS. BECAUSE OF 1ST NATIONS CULTURE, ADOPTED BY FRENCH-CANADIANS, THE SOCIETY OF FRENCH-CANADIANS IS MATRIARCHAL: THE WOMEN COUNT BIG TIME + HAVE "THE INFLUENCE". WHERE'S THE DIFFERENCE? LISTEN TO "THE WAY" A FRENCH-CANADIAN + A 1ST NATION PERSON SPEAK: IT'S THE SAME! NO DIFFERENCE. THE SPEECH PATERNS + HOW THEY TALK ABOUT THINGS: THE SAME! THE BOTTOM LINE IS FRENCH-CANADIAN CULTURE IS "MÉTIS", BUT DON'T TELL THE FRENCH-CANADIAN BISHOPS THAT. (HA! HA!) THE FRENCH-CANADIAN "OBLIGE" THE LAITY TO BE HUMBLE, BUT THEY'RE NOT! :D MY MOTHER, (UNMARRIED NAME: Patricia Isabol, Desjardins), 1ST NATIONS (on her mothers's side + METIS (on her dad's side), TOOK ME ASIDE one day when I was IN HIGH SCHOOL TO SAY: "NEVER THINK YOU'RE "BETTER" THAN ANYONE ELSE. (THAT THINKING IS BEHIND THE FRENCH- CANADIAN "EGALITARIAN" CULTURE that explains the name of my politi- cal party: the Égalité (egalitarian) Party of Canada [theÉ(eh)PC]. :D INTERESTINGLY, THE "FACE" OF PRIME MINISTER PIERRE ELLIOT TRUDEAU + THE" FACE" OF PRIME MINISTER JEAN CHRÉTIEN SHOW THAT THEY'RE MÉTIS, BUT THEY WERE TOO "AFRAID" TO SAY SO. THAT'S SAD. PRIME MINISTER CHRÉTIEN EVEN ADOPED A 1ST NATIONS BOY. When he was Minister of Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, DIAND, he helped to improve "somewhat" the situation of 600+ 1st Nation communties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown%E2%80%93Indigenous_Relations_and_Northern_Affairs_Canada They could now replace a broken window on their 1-room shack accomodating 3 generations without having to get the permission from the DIAND, but they still COUND NOT AFFORD THE FOOD IN THEIR ONY GENERAL STORE though the Government of Canada said it was "subsidized". This just reflects the "heartless", "racist" treatment that the 1st Nation communities were "forced" to endure. IT'S NOT SURPRISING THAT FRENCH-CANADIAN CHURCH'S RACISM RESULTED IN THE CHURCH "NEVER" HAVING 1ST NATION CATHOLIC PRIESTS - UNLIKE IN LATIN AMERICA THAT HAD NATIVE, VERY "WELL" EDUCATED PRIESTS as of the 1500s - SOME OF WHOM WERE EVEN "WORLD-CLASS" SCHOLARS. :D Saint Kateri Tekakwitha helps to improve this BAD, RACIST, SHAMEFUL SITUATION. SADLY, THE FRENCH-CANADIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL NOT RECOGNIZE HER AS ONE OF THEIR OWN AS SHE IS *NOT* OF FRENCH LINEAGE: this is RACISM! HOW SHAMEFUL IS THAT?!!! IT SHOULD, ALSO, BE POINTED OUT THAT FRENCH-CANADIANS "ALWAYS" MADE IT AN offhand HABIT OF TREATING 1st NATIONS BADLY - TO THIS VERY DAY! https://www.dictionary.com/browse/offhand IT WAS WHAT FRENCH-CANADIANS WERE EXPECTED TO DO vis-a-vis the native WITH AN AIR OF SUPERIORITY. AND THE FRENCH-CANADIAN BISHOPS HAVE NEVER CONDEMNED SUCH DESPICABLE" BEHAVIOR - over the centuries. INCREDIBLY, the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, "refuses" to ack- nowledge that the 1st Nations are victims of "SYSTEMIC" RACISM WHEN THE "EVIDENCE" HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE - FOR ALL TO SEE. :D https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kateri_Tekakwitha Ken, Toronto, CANADA