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Get ready for Mohawk Girls’ Season 4 with our Season 3 recap!

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Season 4 of Mohawk Girls is set to premiere on Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 9:30 p.m. ET on APTN with Episode 1, entitled “Fauxhawk.” But, unless you have been binge watching, it’s been a while since you last caught up with our Kahnawa:ke foursome, so let’s catch you up.

Caitlin’s (Heather White) story arc saw many changes last season, as she sought to grow and heal from past disappointments. Following an abortion, she embarked on a self-improvement path in an effort to boost her self-esteem. Always the stalwart friend, Caitlin was loyal to the end and her growth paid off! Seems she has caught the eye of Luscious Leon, but will Caitlin be able to break her Butterhead (Meegwun Fairbrother) habit? Not to mention the social obstacles the cultural differences a Caitlin-Leon partnership mean in Kahnawa:ke.

The same growth was not to be had by Zoe (Brittany LeBorgne). The harder she tried to be the perfect, hardworking, proud Mohawk woman, the deeper she delved into the world of kink. Zoe went to great lengths to secure her secret and even landed herself a fake boyfriend in Ohserose (Shawn Youngchief). But how will she win her way back into the good graces of the community following the fundraiser? It is going to take something REALLY BIG to make over her reputation after that near disaster!

Bailey (Jenny Pudavick), has been torn with doing right by Mohawk standards and her desire to follow her wander-lustful soul. She found a great Mohawk heart in Watio (Jimmy Blais) but this relationship seems a bit of a misfit. However, Watio is prepared to make significant changes in order to hold Bailey’s heart. In a grand gesture, he gets down on one knee and recites his poetry to her in front of their friends. Oh yeah … and he proposed too! Will Bailey settle down with Watio or follow her inner spirit?

Anna ( Maika Harper) ended her season exactly where she left off: not with Thunder (Kyle Nobess). Despite her pursuit of Mohawk culture and embracing her inner warrior, her desire to fit in as a Mohawk turned her into a woman Thunder can no longer love. Does this spell the end for Team Thanna?

There is one notable change this coming season: Leon is now being played by the adorable and witty Dwain Murphy. He is a great fit to play Leon and the chemistry between Heather White and Murphy make a perfect on-screen couple!

Here is a teaser for Season 4. BTW, I sat down the other day and watched Episode 1 . It is BEAST!

Mohawk Girls airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wild Archaeology — Meet the family

Last week on Wild Archaeology, Jenifer missed out on all of the diving fun because she’d returned home to prepare for her community’s PowWow. This week, Dr. Rudy and Jacob met up with Jenifer in Serpent River First Nation, and we got to tag along.

First, they visited Chief Isadore Day, who spoke to the role Jenifer and the series are playing in the process of healing for Indigenous people living in Canada.

“I am really excited that you are doing things that for a lot of years our young people could only dream about. I really attribute these traditional gatherings as a way to bring healing to our people and to give our young people a sense of pride and give them the direction that they need… That begins to give a sense of liberation and freedom and that is the healing that the young people are grasping today,” Day said.

After spending some time enjoying the PowWow, and learning first-hand about the traditions from the elders and community leaders in Jenifer’s home, the series headed to a quartzite quarry in Sheguiandah, on Manitoulin Island. It is believed that a tool made at this quarry more than 10,000 years ago is the same tool found at the site of Jacob’s dive last week. This would indicate that materials were traded around the upper Great Lakes for more that 10,000 years. Jacob and Jenifer also received a quick lesson in flint knapping.

Tuesday’s episode departed from the format that had been established in previous ones; in it we learned more about the cultural aspects that characterize communities in Ontario. It was fantastic getting to hear Chief Day’s comments as they pertain to the healing young Indigenous people are undergoing thanks to the efforts of programs such as Wild Archaeology.

Artifact Tally

Jenifer: Quartzite Endscraper from 8-10,000 years ago
Jacob: nothing

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Mohawk Ironworkers — The Hill brothers keep it in the family

This week on Mohawk Ironworkers, we head to Six Nations, outside of Brantford, Ont., to visit the Hill brothers. These three siblings have logged more than 83 years of ironwork between them, but their efforts have affected their long-term health. The entire episode focuses on the physical demands that this highly-skilled trade places on your body.

Rodney Hill, the eldest, retired 10 years ago but his time as an ironworker continues to take a toll. Years of hard labour had compressed several vertebrae in his spine, causing excruciating pain and numbness in his limbs. Following several surgeries, he was left paralyzed and is now relies on either a wheelchair or walker to assist in his mobility. Spending countless hours in physiotherapy, Rodney is slowly regaining the use of his legs.  His brothers, Mike and Gary, remain by his side just as they did when they all walked iron together.

In addition to the actual physical loss of his legs. Rodney must also cope with the psychological repercussions. Once a strong, vital man bravely walking the iron high above the city skylines, he must now cope with his reduced mobility. For many men, this is almost as debilitating as the paralysis itself. Rodney, fortified with the same courage he showed in his career, will only be satisfied when he can walk with only the aid of a cane.

Throughout, we learn of the very close familial ties ironworkers have, both within their blood family and within the ironworkers unions.

Mohawk Ironworkers airs Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Wild Archaeology: Jacob goes on an underwater archaeological expedition!

This week on Wild Archaeology,  we visit an area I am very familiar with: Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. Dr. Rudy and Jacob are off for a scuba diving adventure below the Great Lakes to explore the landscape that revealed itself during times of low water. Jacob’s first dive reveals evidence of waterfalls, far below the lake’s surface near Tobermory, Ont.

Oral history in the region speaks of the Prehistoric Alpena Amberly Ridge which was at one time used by migrating Caribou. Jacob grabs the opportunity to dive in this area as well and sees first-hand the remains of drive lane complexes, proving credible what  oral history has spoken of for generations. During his dive, Jacob collects flake indicative of tool sharpening.

As Dr. Rudy and his team have moved across Turtle Island in this series, they are seeing a “clear pattern between researchers and Indigenous peoples that there is no dichotomy between prehistory and history. Really what we are looking at across this vast landscape is deep history. The lines of evidence that Indigenous people and scientists, archaeologists and many others can bring to the table are only going to add to that, allow us to better understand the past.”

More and more Geomythology (geological occurances documented in myth and legend) is linking oral history with archaeology, providing clues and context to artifacts found in scientific digs. This discipline is also bridging that academic gap between what academia deems as knowledge and what Indigenous peoples have always known is knowledge.

Another really strong episode this week. This is such a great instrument for social studies in classrooms across Canada. As a teacher, with each episode I watch, my head spins with possible lesson plans that would excite children to learn more about Canada’s rich history.

Wild Archaeology airs Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on APTN.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Mohawk Ironworkers build New York

This week, Mohawk Ironworkers explores the connections between ironworkers and New York City.

Thomas Jock II, from Akwesasne explains that workers must travel for the work. Most of the large projects are found along the eastern coast of the U.S. in cities like Albany, New York and Boston. “Booming out” to the job, workers may spend months away from home and family; this is just one of the prices these men must pay for choosing this high paying, very high risk, occupation. Working in New York as a unionized ironworker, a person can earn in the neighbourhood of $2,000 a week.

The work week begins on Sunday, with the six-hour drive from Kahawa:ke or Akwesasne, in order to get to New Jersey for a night’s sleep. The work day begins at 4 a.m. in order to begin the commute to the job site in Manhattan. Several motels in the area recognize status cards, and try to accommodate as many ironworkers as they can with weekly rates. Rooming houses, small apartments and motels have replaced Little Caughnawaga in Brooklyn, New York, with families remaining in Kahnawa:ke.

This episode also covers the history of Mohawk ironworkers that began when they were hired in the 1880’s as unskilled workers on various building projects. Ever since, ironworkers have been traveling where the building boom takes them. Most building sites employ four or five workers from Kahnawa:ke and this brotherhood has helped to preserve the Kanien’keha (Mohawk) language as it’s often the language of choice for Mohawks on the job site.

This history also covers the collapse of the Quebec Bridge in 1907, an accident where 75 of the 86 workers building the bridge died, of which 33 were from Kahnawa:ke. Many of those who tragically died were not killed by the collapse itself, but rather were trapped by the wreckage at low tide and drowned when the tide came in. A number of memorials that have been built to commemorate these workers can be found in Kahnawa:ke.

This is one of the better episodes this season and far richer than many that have preceded it. The traditional documentary style of the program is tiring, particularly when we have seen some great storytelling in documentary formats using innovative techniques. I feel like I am back in grade school, which is a shame since so many of these stories could be presented in a way that engages the audience. I am hoping the directorial talents of Michelle Smith in next week’s episode bring some improvement.

Mohawk Ironworkers airs Tuesdays at 7 p.m. ET on APTN.

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