Slain police officer’s sister paves road to reconciliation
July 9, 2010
By Brittany LeBorgne
The Eastern Door
By Brittany LeBorgne
The Eastern Door
“If Quebecors want to be recognized as a sovereign nation, they should be the first to understand the desire of the Mohawks,” said Francine Lemay.
Marcel Lemay died July 11, 1990 by an unknown gunman’s bullet.
For the first time four weeks ago Francine Lemay visited the site where her brother died.
Sûreté du Québec (SQ) Corporal Marcel Lemay, 31, was shot and killed in Kanesatake on July 11, 1990 when the SQ opened fire on the Mohawks and the Oka Crisis began.
Lemay, 58, will return to the Mohawk reserve on Sunday, the 20-year anniversary of her brother’s death and the Oka Crisis, for the launching of ‘À l’orée des bois’, a French version of the book ‘At the Wood’s Edge’.
The original work, published in 1995, is on the history of the people of Kanesatake and was written by Kanesata’keró:non Brenda Gabriel and Arlette Kawantatie Van Den Hende, but Lemay is the one who translated it.
“People are surprised when they learn I did this,” said Lemay, who is a professional translator and offered to do the job for free.
She said the feedback is mostly positive and the word she often hears is courageous, but Lemay wasn’t always open to such a project.
She had no idea her brother had been sent to Kanesatake that day until she got the call. Lemay admitted that before that point she knew nothing of First Nations people in Canada except what she learned in school, which was minimal and often negative.
Her brother’s death did nothing to widen her perception. He left behind a daughter and a wife pregnant with their second child.
Lemay was angry and she held onto that anger for 14 years until she read ‘At the Wood’s Edge’ and came face-to-face with a Mohawk for the first time.
“I was invited to hear a presentation of a project to translate the Bible into Mohawk that my friend Céline was working on with women from Kahnawake and Kanesatake,” recalled Lemay. “I was asked to replace the greeter and had to shake their hands.”
Lemay said after Marcel was killed, her one desire was to meet someone who was sorry for his death. The first Mohawk she met that day was Mavis Etienne, a negotiator during the crisis who had a similar desire, to meet a member of Marcel’s family and tell them she’s sorry.
Throughout the presentation Lemay was trembling and after, she asked to speak. “I apologized for all the injustices they went through. I understood because I had just read their story, I had another point of view.”
Mavis then went up and apologized for her own racism towards the French people and offered her condolences for Lemay’s loss. Lemay felt relief and was finally able to mourn her little brother.
Lemay had a “thirst” to learn more about First Nations and devoured all the books, documentaries, news articles and radio clips she could find. But Lemay discovered that the French news coverage and general information on Aboriginals in Canada was limited.
But it was just over a year ago after reading ‘Windows of Hope and Reconciliation’, a story of French-English relations in Canada that triggered her idea to translate ‘At the Wood’s Edge’.
Because it was well researched and documented, and the only book she read written by Mohawk authors, Lemay decided this would be the best way to try and bridge the gap between Canadians, English and French, and Aboriginals.
After getting permission from the authors and the Kanestatake Cultural Center, who published the English version, Lemay began her quest in March 2009 and finished in January of this year.
“I worked like crazy,” said Lemay, who was also working at her job of 9 years translating an American evangelical magazine called In Touch Ministries.
When the book was finally ready, Lemay was devastated to learn that there was no money to have it revised and published.
“I was in physical pain thinking I did all this for nothing, but two weeks later a lady at the Health Center in Kanesatake got a grant for a bigger project that included the book,” explained Lemay.
The revision process took five months, but the final project was ready just in time for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Oka Crisis in Kanestatake this weekend.
Over the last six years, Lemay has been on a journey of reconciliation, which she hopes to pass on to others through ‘À l’orée des bois’.
If her brother hadn’t died that day, Lemay believes she would never have started her journey in the first place. “I prayed that his death would serve a purpose,” she said. “Even though I’ve lost, I’ve gained something more, knowledge, friendships.”
The book launch will begin at 2 p.m. at Rotiwennakéhte School in Kanestatake and will include a second book ‘This is an Honour Song’, edited by Dr. Kiera Ladner of Canada ResearchChairs and Leanne Simpson from the University of Manitoba.
brittanyl@easterndoor.com
