I would like to add that while I agree with most of the speaker's points and
analysis of our history as a community, there is one assertion which must be
clarified.
The Mohawk interviewee gives the impression that there is a consensus within
the community here that the "traditional" longhouse government will be re-
instituted unmodified and wholesale. This is not true. Most people in Kahnawake
are unclear as to the specific form of government which will evolve from our
present Indian Act ("elected") system; but contrary to what the interviewee
tries to portray, the future governing institution of the Mohawks of Kahnawake
will contain elements of both "traditional" longhouse structures and modern
or "elected" (read bureaucratic) structures as well.
Most people here acknowledge the fact that longhouse structures are inap-
propriate to the modern age if they remain unmodified to reflect current
political reality and social orders.
Gerald R. Alfred
Lecturer, Dept. of Political Science, Concordia University
Concordia University, Montreal.