Deseronto Archives

Mark Brinklow

Mark Brinklow is a Mohawk man working for the Tyendinaga justice circle as the aboriginal youth justice worker. He often uses the land as a platform for youth to speak their mind, reconnect with nature, and start a life on the good road with a good mind. With over ten years working in the youth justice system it is the work on the land that provides the highest rate of success, and the lowest rate of recidivism.

Mike Bossio

Mike has been a resident of Tyendinaga Township for 19 years and was on Municipal Council from 1998-2001.  During this time Waste Management (WM) applied for their first expansion of the Richmond Landfill.  Many of us in Tyendinaga Township and the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) realized that this would be highly detrimental to our communities and the environment.  As a result, the Concerned Citizens Committee of Tyendinaga and Environs (CCCTE) was created.  The CCCTE’s mandate has been work with the MBQ and other local municipalities to properly close and monitor the 50 year old leaking Richmond Landfill and to prevent any further expansion on this unsuitable location.  To date, the CCCTE and MBQ have succeeded in stopping one expansion; have closed the Richmond landfill; are in the middle of proceedings under the Environmental Review Tribunal to ensure proper monitoring of the Richmond Landfill; and remediation of offsite contamination.  Since 2010 we have also been fighting another expansion proposal from WM.   Through tremendous efforts in both communities we have been able to accomplish what many never believed possible.

Marlene Brant Castellano

Marlene Brant Castellano is a Mohawk grandmother and professor emeritus of Indigenous Studies at Trent University. Marlene is respected as an elder in her home community of Tyendinaga  and a mentor to hundreds of students she has taught over the past forty years.  She has received numerous honours including being named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2005. That citation read, in part, “A bridge between cultures, Marlene Brant Castellano has worked throughout her life for the rights and well-being of Aboriginal peoples.”

Ed File

Ed File’s forebears arrived in south Greater Napanee as UEL from post-revolutionary New York around the same time as the Mohawk landing.  They too received land grants. Ed was born in 1931 in Port Arthur where his father was teaching.  He attended school and university in Toronto; St.Andrews, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; and Boston, USA, completing B.A, M.Div, Ph.D (Social Ethics).  Mr. File is an ordained United Church minister and taught at York University for 30 years as a social science professor.

Amanda Hill

Amanda Hill graduated from the University College London archive course in 1991 and has worked as an archivist at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, the Essex Record Office and in the Universities of Oxford and Manchester in England. She is a teaching fellow on the University of Dundee’s MLitt in Archives and Records Management. In 2007, she moved to Canada, where she works as an archival consultant for Hillbraith Ltd. She currently runs the archives service for the Town of Deseronto.

John S. Milloy

John Milloy is of Scottish origin and a professor of history and Canadian Studies at Trent University. He is an award-winning teacher and author of the influential book A National Crime, the Canadian Government and the Residential School System –1879 to 1986. He has served as a researcher and advisor to the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples  and  Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which is now assembling a living record of residential school experience .

Paul Robertson

A resident of Deseronto since 2004, Paul Robertson is chair of the Deseronto Archives Board. In his professional life, He has worked in the museum field for twenty-five years as a history and material culture specialist for both national and local level organisations. Paul is currently City Curator with the City of Kingston where one of his responsibilities is finding ways to collect and share the ‘intangible’ — those stories that document and shape community. He is currently working with various First Nations groups with a connection to Kingston to find ways to integrate their stories more effectively into the broader Kingston historical narrative.

Keith Sero

Keith Sero is a proud member of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation.  Now retired and living on the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Mr. Sero’s background includes extensive experience as a negotiator on Aboriginal Land Claims and implementation of Treaties throughout Canada. He has held senior positions with First Nations’ national political organizations (the National Indian Brotherhood) as well as financial and policy development positions with the federal government through a number of years with Treasury Board and other federal departments. Mr. Sero is also a former member of the Tyendinaga Mohawk Band Council.

KAIROS

KAIROS is supported by Canadian churches and religious organizations united in faithful action for peace and social justice. The organization joins with ordinary Canadians of faith and conscience working together for change, in partnership with people around the globe. KAIROS has been engaged with Canadian Aboriginal communities in education and advocacy for the past forty years.

The Blanket Exercise is a dramatic reading of history woven into an interactive learning experience, produced by KAIROS. Those present are invited to walk together through events that have brought Settlers and First Nations together and divided them over the centuries that our peoples have shared life on this land. Alfredo Barahona will represent KAIROS as facilitator of The Blanket Exercise.