News n Updates

PA Museum Begins Construction of Longhouse

On Saturday, April 28, dozens of volunteers will gather in Willow Street, Pennsylvania, for a very unusual work day: stripping bark from hundreds of saplings that will be used to construct a Native American longhouse on the grounds of the 1719 Hans Herr House & Museum.

For the last two years, the Circle Legacy Center in Lancaster, the 1719 Hans Herr House and Native American and European American volunteers have been on a quest to build a replica longhouse that honors the Native American legacy and teaches children and adults about a part of Pennsylvania history that that has been excluded for too long.

The longhouse will look like homes that were built here for hundreds of years: curved bark walls and roof secured to a framework of bent saplings, all supported by log posts and beams. The design is based on a longhouse excavated in Lancaster County in 1969. Members and descendants of regional tribes—including Lenape, Onondaga and Susquehannock—as well as local authorities like archeologist Fred Kinsey are advisors for the project, making it a truly collaborative effort.

Land for the longhouse was dedicated after a service of honor and healing on October 9, 2010. During the service, Presbyterian, Mennonite and Quaker leaders and local and state officials recognized three hundred years of misunderstanding, neglect and abuse of Native Americans in Lancaster County.

“As Mennonites and the first European settlers of the land known as Lancaster County, … we have failed in living out our convictions to live peacefully and express love for all people,” Lancaster Mennonite Conference bishop Lloyd Hoover confessed to representatives of more than a dozen Native American groups.

Leaders recounted the infamous massacres of Conestoga Indians in Lancaster in 1763 and the establishment of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School nearby in 1879, as well as a series of insidious offenses: Europeans encroaching on Native land, poaching game, failing to aid Indians in need and imposing their cultural standards on Native groups.

“We mourn for the acts done by our sisters and brothers in faith,” Presbytery moderator Rev. Jane DeFord said. “We ask that our Native brothers and sisters forgive the wrongs done to them.”

“The stories that we’ve heard this morning are very disturbing,” said Mitchell Bush of the Onondaga/Iroquois Confederacy, “but let me tell you something about the Onondagas—we’re not raised to hate.”

“The fact that all of you would come here, assemble here, to say these things is what I would consider a legitimate act of contrition,” said Curtis Zunigha of the Delaware Nation. “I will take your words back to my people. … I look forward to returning with the response of my people and joining you all in an effort to make great change so that we may never feel like this again.”

The first phase of longhouse construction begins this month. Planners are hoping to recruit one hundred volunteers to take the bark off more than a thousand saplings which will be donated to the project.

“Constructing this longhouse at the 1719 Hans Herr House & Museum—the site of three Herr family homes—enables our organizations to tell the Lancaster County story from the 16th century up to the turn of the 20th century,” museum director Becky Gochnauer said.

Snacks and lunch will be provided for volunteers and Native American food will be for sale, said Mary Ann Robins (Onondaga), board president for the Circle Legacy Center.

Interested volunteers should contact the 1719 Hans Herr House at (717) 464-4438 or longhouse@hansherr.org. Additional details about the longhouse can be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lancasterlonghouse.org.

Circle Legacy Center (www.circlelegacycenter.org) is a Lancaster nonprofit dedicated to supporting and empowering the First Nations Peoples of the Americas.

1719 Hans Herr House (www.hansherr.org) is a museum that includes Lancaster County’s oldest building and the oldest Mennonite meetinghouse in the Americas.

January 8, 2012

In 2011, the First Nations community of Lake St. Martin, located approximately 230 km’s north of Winnipeg, faced an unprecedented disaster. The entire community became flooded to the point that it was completely uninhabitable. No one is there, anymore. Neither is anything else. All Lake St. Martin residents have been evacuated to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Presently, they are residing at hotels in Winnipeg’s downtown core called the Marlborough Inn and Place Louis Riel. They are “uptown” by all outward appearances and the clientele are primarily white collar. This is just to give you an idea of what it’s like. However, I should note in all fairness that Place Louis Riel used to have a bar behind it that was quite rowdy at times. It wasn’t exactly clean. It’s closed now but it was there, once.

Over the weekend of October 4, 2011, the giant air industry Air Canada released a memo stating that Air Canada staff will not be compensated for stays at these hotels while on stopovers in Winnipeg. The memo read: “Recent environmental issues have forced approximately 1,000 displaced people from rural Manitoba to numerous hotels in the downtown area. Instances of public intoxication, resulting in several downtown locations being susceptible to crimes of violence and opportunity, have been observed by local police.” (http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1069225--national-chief-demands-air-canada-apologize-over-memo)

In the following weeks, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs rejected the half hearted apology by Air Canada. Furthermore, they have agreed to have a six month boycott of all Air Canada services.http://www.vancouversun.com/travel/First+Nations+boycotting+Canada/5568210/story.html

Some might think this is of no consequences. However, let’s consider a few things. First, there are many First Nations communities across Manitoba who have no other connection with the outside world except by plane. Virtually all of these communities have contracts with Air Canada for just this service. Albeit, the contract might be second hand as in mail being flown in on a regular basis. This is something Canada Post would handle. The point is this boycott will definitely be felt by Air Canada at a financial level. They have got to understand that there is a professional business relationship between Air Canada and First Nations communities as a whole. There are ethics which should be acknowledged and observed. There is no excuse. They know better and need to be shown so.

In a final note, there are many financial compensations available to all Lake St. Martin residents (or anyone treaty to Lake St. Martin and if you are, you know what being treaty means). Here are links to some web pages for info:

http://www.masc.mb.ca/masc.nsf/floodrecovery.html#part_c

http://www.gov.mb.ca/emo/home/dfa/   

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