A remarkable journey of reconciliation, understanding and compassion
By Shannon-Lee Figsby, Hudson Gazette, June 30, 2010
KANEHSATAKE — There are few people in the world with hearts as compassionate as Francine Lemay. After suffering the devastating loss of her brother nearly 20 years ago during the 1990 Oka crisis, Lemay forged her own path of healing in a very different direction than most people would have been able to- by volunteering her services as a professional translator to translate a historic story about the Mohawk people since the arrival of white Europeans.
As the 20th anniversary of the death of her brother, Sûreté du Quebec Corporal Marcel Lemay, killed during the Oka crisis of 1990, approaches, Lemay was on hand last Friday evening at the Immersion School in Kanehsatake where an exhibition by emerging Mohawk artists in conjunction with the Mirabel Centre for Print-Making was presented. The vernissage took place as part of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal-wide Montréal First People’s Festival.
Along with the young Kanehsatake artists celebrating their artistic achievements, Lemay was celebrating the pre-launch of the translated version of At The Wood’s Edge, originally published in 1996. Lemay has translated the book into French, titled À l’orée des bois, with the official launch to take place on July 11th, marking the exact date that her brother’s life was taken.
Before the Oka crisis, Lemay’s knowledge of Mohawk culture was limited to what she had been taught in history books, and she admits she held certain inherent prejudices that most humans inadvertently do. After the death of her brother, the vision in her mind of Mohawk culture was understandably no more improved.
For Lemay, the journey to forgiveness began in 2006 when two McGill University students contacted her to get her opinion on the Oka crisis. Nauseous, Lemay was unsure of whether she was capable of revisiting the most traumatic experience of her life. “After 14 years, I thought that page in my life’s book had been turned,” she said. “ I wasn’t sure I wanted to open it again.”
But open it she did. Before granting the McGill students an interview, she called a friend who was studying native culture in an attempt to inform herself more and avoid sounding ignorant. Her friend in turn lent her At The Wood’s Edge. She devoured the book in a matter of days.
“ Another side of the story unfolded,” she said. “I was touched and deeply moved in learning the deceptions, the exploitation, the injustice and the forced removals the people had endured. I knew there were two interpretations to the history of Canada, the one told by the English Canadians and the one told by French Canadians, but I had just discovered a third point of view, the one told by the natives.”
What transpired over the coming months was nothing short of miraculous. After a group of Mohawks attended a church service at Lemay’s church, a bond was forged between herself and Mavis Etienne, one of the negotiators during the 1990 crisis. Displaying a surge of inner strength, Lemay asked Etienne for forgiveness for the actions of the government since the arrival of the Europeans. Etienne asked for forgiveness for not praying for the safety of the police officers during the government-ordered assault on a Mohawk blockade erected to prevent a developer from cutting a forest and bulldozing a native burial ground. There, in front of an entire congregation, a bridge was built between two cultures where there once were only raging waters.
Today, Lemay remains actively involved in the Mohawk community, particularly throughout her year-long involvement in the translation of the book.
“These experiences have truly allowed me to mourn my brother,” she told a Hudson/St.Lazare Gazette reporter. “Before, I was holding onto so much anger. I had forgave the Mohawk people, because I wanted to be a good Christian, but it was a superficial forgiveness. Now, I have been able to let things go and truly mourn the loss.”
Lemay today considers many members of the Mohawk community as her close friends. She also considers herself to be an “ambassador of peace,” trying to teach others to accept forgiveness into their own hearts as she herself has been able to do. Upon meeting her, you can’t help but realize that she is a woman of genuine spirit, acceptance and understanding for all people. The concept of judgement is foreign to her.
In a piece that Lemay wrote for a McGill University publication, she states that the road to peace and understanding is long and arduous, and for some perhaps incomprehensible. But for Lemay, it is the only way to live a fulfilled life.
“I like the French phrase “artisan de paix” which translates the term peacemaker,” she writes. “The Native people are artisans recognized for their unique crafts, objects made by hand not manufactured. Peace cannot be manufactured; as in crafts, it needs time, dedication and love. Although the loss of a life always appears useless, that of Marcel, even if it is highly deplorable and still afflicting, might not be in vain. A tragedy can sometimes serve a greater good for a purpose that can surpass our limited human understanding.”
As the 20th anniversary of the death of her brother, Sûreté du Quebec Corporal Marcel Lemay, killed during the Oka crisis of 1990, approaches, Lemay was on hand last Friday evening at the Immersion School in Kanehsatake where an exhibition by emerging Mohawk artists in conjunction with the Mirabel Centre for Print-Making was presented. The vernissage took place as part of the 20th anniversary of the Montreal-wide Montréal First People’s Festival.
Along with the young Kanehsatake artists celebrating their artistic achievements, Lemay was celebrating the pre-launch of the translated version of At The Wood’s Edge, originally published in 1996. Lemay has translated the book into French, titled À l’orée des bois, with the official launch to take place on July 11th, marking the exact date that her brother’s life was taken.
Before the Oka crisis, Lemay’s knowledge of Mohawk culture was limited to what she had been taught in history books, and she admits she held certain inherent prejudices that most humans inadvertently do. After the death of her brother, the vision in her mind of Mohawk culture was understandably no more improved.
For Lemay, the journey to forgiveness began in 2006 when two McGill University students contacted her to get her opinion on the Oka crisis. Nauseous, Lemay was unsure of whether she was capable of revisiting the most traumatic experience of her life. “After 14 years, I thought that page in my life’s book had been turned,” she said. “ I wasn’t sure I wanted to open it again.”
But open it she did. Before granting the McGill students an interview, she called a friend who was studying native culture in an attempt to inform herself more and avoid sounding ignorant. Her friend in turn lent her At The Wood’s Edge. She devoured the book in a matter of days.
“ Another side of the story unfolded,” she said. “I was touched and deeply moved in learning the deceptions, the exploitation, the injustice and the forced removals the people had endured. I knew there were two interpretations to the history of Canada, the one told by the English Canadians and the one told by French Canadians, but I had just discovered a third point of view, the one told by the natives.”
What transpired over the coming months was nothing short of miraculous. After a group of Mohawks attended a church service at Lemay’s church, a bond was forged between herself and Mavis Etienne, one of the negotiators during the 1990 crisis. Displaying a surge of inner strength, Lemay asked Etienne for forgiveness for the actions of the government since the arrival of the Europeans. Etienne asked for forgiveness for not praying for the safety of the police officers during the government-ordered assault on a Mohawk blockade erected to prevent a developer from cutting a forest and bulldozing a native burial ground. There, in front of an entire congregation, a bridge was built between two cultures where there once were only raging waters.
Today, Lemay remains actively involved in the Mohawk community, particularly throughout her year-long involvement in the translation of the book.
“These experiences have truly allowed me to mourn my brother,” she told a Hudson/St.Lazare Gazette reporter. “Before, I was holding onto so much anger. I had forgave the Mohawk people, because I wanted to be a good Christian, but it was a superficial forgiveness. Now, I have been able to let things go and truly mourn the loss.”
Lemay today considers many members of the Mohawk community as her close friends. She also considers herself to be an “ambassador of peace,” trying to teach others to accept forgiveness into their own hearts as she herself has been able to do. Upon meeting her, you can’t help but realize that she is a woman of genuine spirit, acceptance and understanding for all people. The concept of judgement is foreign to her.
In a piece that Lemay wrote for a McGill University publication, she states that the road to peace and understanding is long and arduous, and for some perhaps incomprehensible. But for Lemay, it is the only way to live a fulfilled life.
“I like the French phrase “artisan de paix” which translates the term peacemaker,” she writes. “The Native people are artisans recognized for their unique crafts, objects made by hand not manufactured. Peace cannot be manufactured; as in crafts, it needs time, dedication and love. Although the loss of a life always appears useless, that of Marcel, even if it is highly deplorable and still afflicting, might not be in vain. A tragedy can sometimes serve a greater good for a purpose that can surpass our limited human understanding.”
