Onyota'a:ka First Nation

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The Onyota'a:ka people (Oneida) reside in a rural area commonly referred to as the "Oneida Settlement", which is about a 20-minute drive from London, Ontario, Canada.

1 The Oneida Settlement
2 The People of the Standing Stone
3 Governance
4 Roles and Responsibilities
5 Community
6 Facilities
7 Neighbours

[edit] The Oneida Settlement

The Oneidas, as an Iroquoian people, had a traditional territory once covered a large section of the eastern part of North America. So, although the Oneida people are located in their traditional hunting area known as the Beaver Hunting Grounds, which was recognized in the 1701 Nanfan Treaty, it was actually several Oneida families that relocated to Southwold, Ontario, Canada from New York state in the 1840s that formed the current day settlement.

The Oneida people who live or are descendants of people at the "Oneida Settlement" always insist that their lands be called a "settlement" because their relocation lands in Ontario were purchased outright by Oneida people. This is a distinct process from having the lands "set aside" or "reserved" for them. Many other lands inhabited by indigenous people in North America are called "Indian reserves".

Historically Iroquoian people were agriculturalists known for their corn-beans-and-squash companion planting, and so many of the original families that moved to Ontario in the 1840s maintained their livelihood by farming and living off the land.

[edit] The People of the Standing Stone

The name Oneida is the English mispronounciation of Onyota'a:ka. Onyota'a:ka means people of the Standing Stone. The identity of the People of the Standing Stone is based on a legend in which the Oneida people were being pursued on foot by an enemy tribe. The Oneida people were chased into a clearing within the woodlands and disappeared instantaneously. The enemy of the Oneida could not find them and so it was said that these people had turned themselves into stones that had stood in the clearing. As a result, they became known as the People of the Standing Stone.

There are older legends in which the Oneida people self-identify as the Big Tree People. Not much is written about this and Iroquoian elders would have to be consulted as to the oral history of that. This may simply correspond to other Iroquoian notions of the Great Tree of Peace and the associated belief system of the people.

Individuals born into the Oneida Nation are identified according to their spirit name, or what we now call an Indian name, their clan, and their family unit within a clan. Further to that, each gender, clan and family unit within a clan all have particular duties and responsibilities. Clan identities go back to the Creation Story of the Onyota'a:ka peoples and there are three clans that the people identify with, either the Wolf, Turtle or Bear clans. A person's clan is the same as his or her mother's clan.

In the face of colonizing forces that tried to assimilate or extinguish the Original Nations of North America, the majority of the Oneida Nation people who descend from the Oneida Settlement can still identify their clan. Further, if a person does not have a clan because their mother is not Oneida, then the Nation still makes provisions for customary adoptions into one of the clans. However, the act of adopting is primarily a responsibility of the Wolf clan, so many adoptees are Wolf.

[edit] Governance

Governance in the Oneida community is like the governance in so many indigenous socities--it has been disrupted by colonial governments of the United States and Canada.

Indigenous Governance: The Great Law of Peace

The story and the teachings of the Great Peace belong to all Iroquois people, not just the Oneida people, and this rule of law, indigenous-style, was open to all who chose to fall under it. The Great Law of Peace was based on natural law, but was also intended to be a living law which is at work when the Oneida people and Iroquois interacted within their longhouses, families, clans, within their nations, and their entire Confederacy.

The beauty of the Great Law of Peace is that it recognizes that in a society of people, any people, that we are individuals but that we must balance our existence the context of a collective or community. The Great Law is actually a collection of many stories about how we decided we were all going to live together within Creation and that we could live in peace if we all took responsibility to exercise a GOOD MIND.

It is a story about a collective, therefore one voice or one pen will never be able to provide an oral narrative of the collective. Individuals seeking to relay an understanding of the original governance structure of the Oneida people can only provide a piece of that total picture to others about the Great Law of Peace. Therefore, the history of the different parts of this ancient rule of law lies within different regions of the Iroquois Confederacy.

As American ethnologist, [Horatio Hale], observed:

“It should be mentioned that while the histories received at the two localities were generally in close accord, thus furnishing a strong proof of the correctness with which they have been handed down, there were circumstances remembered at each place which had not been preserved at the other. The Onondagas, as was natural, retained a fuller recollection of the events which took place before the flight of Hiawatha to the Caniengas; while the annalists of the latter tribe were better versed in the subsequent occurrences attending the formation of the League. These facts should be borne in mind by any inquirer who may undertake to repeat or continue these investigations." _{(Horatio Hale: The Iroquois Book of Rites)}

What the Iroquois did was to create a ceremony and other memory tools to help us understand today, and recall the ceremony and the history of the Great Law. Some of these tools and memory aids are: Songs, Stories, Condolence Cane, Wampum strings, Protocols. Because not everyone has access to the ceremony or memory tools, the writings used here are another tool, albeit not sanctioned by the Iroquois Confederacy, nor intended to be sanctioned or replace the actual ceremony or sacred songs, stories, etc.

Condolence Ceremony: Leadership Selection and Basis of Governance

We can look to both the white man’s writings and the oral history of the Oneida people to understand the importance of the condolence to the Confederacy, which is our people, our government.

Ethnologist Horatio Hale observed of Iroquois people that it is the FIRST LAW that when a Chief dies, the title or office is not to die with him and that, the "first law prescribes that when a chief dies his office shall not perish with him. This is expressed, in their metaphorical style, by an injunction that the 'horns', or insignia of office, shall not be buried with the deceased chief, but shall be taken off at his death, to be transferred to his successor. This rule is laid down in the most urgent and impressive terms. 'We should perhaps all perish if his office is buried with him in his grave.' This systematic transmission of official rank was, in fact, the vital principle of their government.” _{(Horatio Hale: The Iroquois Book of Rites)}

Governance, from an Iroquoian perspective, uses the metaphor that the HOUSE has already been built for the Iroquois people and their descendants by the ancient Peacemaker, his Helper, and the original 50 Chiefs. The responsibiltiy of the Oneida people and the other four Nations (Mohawks, Cayugas, Senecas and Onondagas) is the continuous renewal and maintenance of the house or the government to ensure that the political titles of Chiefs are filled by new leaders. Very aptly, the term Haudenosaunee is how many Iroquois people self-identify, which means that they are builders of longhouses, and the longhouse is also a symbol of Iroquoian government.

[edit] Roles and Responsibilities

[edit] Community

The community contains three sub-divisions, a community center, and three parks. Bingo and radio bingo are very popular, and sports are important. The people attend long house and the annual ceremonies, and the Oneida language is taught to all children in school.

[edit] Facilities

The Oneida people who live in this reserve have a traditional long house and government. The people own their own businesses. Two elementary schools have been built: Standing Stone and The Log School. A health clinic is located in downtown Oneida, which also includes a radio station, administration building, golden ages rest home, a volunteer fire hall, and a little market.